Note* You need to have some understanding of music, as well as reading some notes and play at least some chords on an instrument.
This class is not for beginners.
The first thing you need to know is the Chromatic Scale
Do - Do# - Re - Re# - Mi - Fa - Fa# - Sol - Sol# - La - La# - Si - Do
you can also have the Chromatic Scale going down, from high C to low C
Do - Si - Sib - La - Lab - Sol - Solb - Fa - Mi - Mib - Re - Reb - Do
Notice that now you have, 5 flats
Because Do# is the same as Reb, you know that right?
Re# is the same as Mib
Fa# is the same as Solb
Sol# is the same as Lab
La# is the same as Sib
To make a chord, you need at least 3 notes.
You can not make a chord with 2 notes or 1 note, you need 3 different notes.
Lets make a simple chord, the C Major Chord
C = Do - Mi - Sol
The C Chord, (Represented just by the capital letter C) has 3 notes, Do-Mi-Sol.
I use Do-Mi-Sol, because if I use letters, C-E-G, looks like I have three chords
C Major, E Major and G Major.
That is why is much better to use notes. Besides you need to learn the name of the notes anyway.
The C Chord has three notes.
Let's see how that looks in the staff
Notice how the notes are one on top of the other.
Notice also that the three notes are on a line. This is ver important.
Now, if we add another note in the next line, we have a chord with 4 notes
This chord is the Cmaj7 chord, and it has 4 notes, Do-Mi-Sol-Si
Notice how also the notes are one on top of the other.
Notice also that the 4 notes are on a line.
Don't worry now for the name, and why is Major7, just notice how now you have 4 different notes
Remember that you only have 7 different notes in total, Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Si
In this chord we are using 4 out of those 7 notes
Notice how you play one note, Do - skip Re - play Mi - skip Fa - play Sol - skip La - play Si
This pattern is very important, all the chords are like that, play-skip-play-skip-play-skip
Let's add one more note, using the same pattern, we should add the Re
Do-Mi-Sol-Si-Re, now we have a chord with 5 notes
The notes are on top of each other
All of them are on a line
Now you have a chord with 5 notes (there are only 2 notes left)
Let's add one more note, using the same pattern, we should add the Fa
Do-Mi-Sol-Si-Re-Fa, now we have a chord with 6 notes
The notes are on top of each other, All of them are on a line
Now you have a chord with 6 notes
Let's add one more note, using the same pattern, we should add the La
Do-Mi-Sol-Si-Re-Fa-La, now we have a chord with 7 notes
The notes are on top of each other, All of them are on a line
Now you have a chord with 7 notes
If we keep going like this, the next logical note would be another Do
Do-Mi-Sol-Si-Re-Fa-La-Do, 15 notes higher then the starting Do.
We can not have repeated notes, so once we reach 7 different notes, that's it.
So now you know that we can only have 5 categories of CHORDS or 5 families of Chords.
Chords with 3 notes
Chords with 4 notes
Chords with 5 notes
Chords with 6 notes
Chords with 7 notes
Let's see and analyze the first family of chords, the chords with 3 notes.
Let's say you only have 3 letters, C-A-T, you are going to mix those letters in every possible way
CAT - CTA - ATC - ACT - TAC - TCA, and that's it there is only so much you can do.
In music, you have 3 notes for the first family of chords - Do - Mi - Sol.
If you mix the same notes, or change the order of the same notes, you still have the same chord.
Do - Mi - Sol is The C Major Chord
Mi - Sol - Do, is still the same C Major Chord, because you still have the same three notes, just in a different order
Sol - Do - Mi, still is the C Chord.
When you change the notes like this is called, INVERSIONS, or inversion of the chord.
This will not create a new type of chord.
Remember that we also have, flats, and sharps, so we can use thos notes to change a chord
Do - Mi - Sol is a Major Chord
Do - Mib - Sol is a minor chord
All we had to do is change the Mi for the Mib
Because the sound of Mib is lower than Mi, the chord sounds different, and it has a different name.
So we have now two types of chords, using the same 3 notes, Do-Mi-Sol, but changing just a little.
Do-Mi-Sol = C Major
Do-Mib-Sol = C minor
Now we can use a sharp in the note Sol, to make another chord.
Do - Mi - Sol is a Major Chord
Do - Mi - Sol# is an augmented chord
All we had to do is change the Sol for the Sol#
Because the sound of Sol# is higher than Sol, the chord sounds different, and it has a different name.
So now we have another chord
Do-Mi-Sol = C Major
Do-Mib-Sol = C minor
Do-Mi-Sol# = C Augmented
What if we change two notes, the Mi to Mib and the Sol to Solb.
Do - Mi - Sol is a Major Chord
Do - Mib - Solb is a diminished chord
We are playing with the sounds we have
WE have another combination now
So now we have one more chord
Do-Mi-Sol = C Major
Do-Mib-Sol = C minor
Do-Mi-Sol# = C Augmented
Do-Mib-Solb = C diminished
you can only have 4 kinds of chords using 3 notes. The most popular chords.
C = Do-Mi-Sol
Cm = Do-Mib-Sol
C+ = Do-Mi-Sol#
Cdim = Do-Mib-Solb
Notice how for minor, we use the "m" abbreviation
Notice for augmented, we use the "+" Symbol, or you can also use "Aug", like C Aug
For diminished we use, "dim" or sometimes you can use a little circle.
Now is the time to analize each chord, using intervals.
Intervals are the distance between two chords.
Let's see the C Chords.
The very first note, or the "Root" of the chord is Do, or "C" that is why the name of the chord is C.
The next note, is Mi. There is one note that you don't play, the Re.
From Do to Mi there is a 3rd. Because the distance from one note to the other is 3 notes (Do-Re-Mi)
The next note is Sol, so from Do to Sol is a Fifth, There are 5 notes distance (Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol)
But in order to really understand the chords, we need to use ALL the notes, the flats, and the sharps, all of them.
From Do to Mi, you have 5 notes involve. (Do-Do#-Re-Re#-Mi) 5 notes.
From Do to Sol, you have 8 notes involve. (Do-Do#-Re-Re#-Mi-Fa-Fa#-Sol) 8 notes.
See the image, if you don't have a piano, count all the notes
So this pattern 1-5-8 is the for a Major Chord.
All major chords will have this same measure, same distance, same pattern, how ever you see it, all will sound the same
So now you should now, how to make every single Major Chord in every single key.
Remember the Chromatic scale? That's it there are only 12 different sounds.
If you know that the D# is the same as the Eb, is one sound, but 2 different keys.
One is the key of D#, and the other is the key of Eb, this is called "Enharmonic"
So you can have a chord that sounds the same, but it has different notes.
Still is the same pattern for a major chord 1-5-8.
This pattern from 1 to 5 is a 3rd, and usually we use the 3rd all the time.
Is a Major 3rd.
The 1 to 8 is a Fifth, and it's called a Perfect 5th.
So a major chord has the Root-Major 3rd-And Prefect 5th
Every major chord will be like that.
There are many keys, 21 in total.
Here is a table of all major keys.
The green Chords are the most common ones.
As long as you learn those you'll be fine.
From now on, because we know they are ALL major chords, we don't really have to write "Major" all the time.
We just use the Capital letter and that's it!
Like this...
Let's transpose the C major Chord to any other key.
You know that C has 3 notes, so all the other chords must have also 3 notes.
The root of the chord is: Do
The 3rd of the chord is: Mi
The fifth of the chord is: Sol.
You know that you need a ROOT-Major 3rd-Perfect 5th
Or the pattern: 1-5-8
Let's transport this chord to... let's say A
Now is your turn get a keyboard and count each note to see that this is true.
See this table, and you'll see that the chord will always be 1-5-8
The next table has a few major chords
After this 20 lessons, you should be able to know how to make avery single major chord
One thing is to know how to make it, and the other thing is to know how to play it
To play a chord you need to play an instrument.
But once you know how to make it, it's easier to play it.
Because as long as you are playing the notes of the chord, you are playing the chord.
