Abubilla Music

Ed Stone’s Brain Dump – Chords

Written by Louise

So Jimmy was asking around for a music tutor (he’s still looking if anyone can suggest someone) and Ed decided to take the task on himself – a kind of distance-learning affair. This is his first tutorial (I warn you it’s long).  

• Most important point – the specific note names don’t matter!
  – Key thing about chords is it is the relationships between the notes in the chord that matter, not the specific note names e.g. C, D, F# etc. Therefore, as soon as you know the C major chord, you automatically know every single other major chord – you just need to change the starting note. Full explanation below.Cheap Snapbacks.
• Major chord:
  – e.g. C Major = C, E, G.
  – All major chords have the same gaps between the notes (e.g. C-E = 4 semitones, E-G = 3 semitones).
  – It therefore doesn’t matter whether you play a C Major chord (C, E, G), D major chord (D, F#, A), F# Major (F#, A#, C#) – so long as the gaps between the notes are always 4 semitones and 3 semitones, it will sound the same.cheap snapbacks online.
  
• Minor chord
  – e.g. C minor = C, Eb, G
  – All minor chords have the same gaps between the notes (e.g. C-Eb = 3 semitones, Eb-G = 4 semitones).
  – NB all three note chords are called triads
• Major 7ths
  – There are 8 notes in a scale (e.g. C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C).
  – We often refer to the notes of a chord by their position in the scale e.g. C major chord is made up of C, E, G. These notes are then referred to as the 1st, 3rd and 5th of the chordWholesale Snapback Hats.
  – To make a 7th, simply add the 7th note of the scale on top of the already formed triad i.e. C, E, G, B (therefore, the gap between the 5th and the 7th of the major 7th is always 4 semitones)
  – This chord is a bit jazzier, smoother and sexier
  – Again, as with all chords, it doesn’t matter what note you start on to produce the chord e.g. D major 7th (D, F#, A, C#) sounds the same as C major 7th (C, E, G, B) – so long as the gaps between the notes are 3 semitones, 4 semitones, 4 semitones, it will sound like a major 7th
• Major 9th
  – Created exactly as the 7th, except you add another note, this time the 9th
  – E.g. C, E, G, B, D
  – Even smoother and jazzier chords
  – You can keep going and going if you want. Anything beyond a 13th (e.g. C, E, G, B, D, F, A) I tend to find a bit too mushy
  – If it does start sounding mushy, try dropping some of the lower notes of the chord e.g. if C, E, G, B, D, F (an 11th) sounds bad, try only playing C, G, B, D, F(i.e. drop the 3rd, the E). That often opens the chord up again.Snapback Hats Wholesale.
  

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• Major 6th
  – Just add the 6th note of the scale e.g. C, E, G, A
  – Very gentle, smooth chord. I find it quite weak, but it can be used in certain places.
  
• Dominant 7th
  – Exactly the same as the major 7th, except you flatten the 7th note by one semitone (e.g. C, E, G, Bb) – gap between the 5th and the 7th becomes 3 rather than 4 semitones
  – This is a much bluesier chord, and is great for key changes.
  – E.g. play C, E, G, followed by F, A, C (C major moving to F Major). Sounds nice. Now play C, E, G, Bb moving to F, A, C (C dominant 7th moving to F major) – this sounds a lot more resolved
  – The dominant 7th chord is very “unstable” – it wants to move onto a different chord (NB the chord it “resolves” best to is the 4th i.e. 4th note of the scale of the starting chord e.g. 4th note of C scale is F. Hence C dominant 7th wants to resolve to F major)
  
• Diminished 7th
  – An even more extreme version of the Dominant 7th. Very unstable, desperately wants to move onto a different chord. Also very cool because, unlike the dominant 7th which only resolves one way i.e. on to the 4th chord, the diminished 7th can resolve about 3 different ways, all of which sound good
  – Diminished 7th is made up of notes that are all 3 semitones away from each other.
  – E.g. B, D, F, Ab (B-D = 3 semitones, D-F = 3 semitones, F-Ab = 3 semitones)
  – This will want to resolve to C major (B, D, F, Ab to C, E, G), or also Eb (B, D, F, AB to Bb, Eb, G)
  

Those are all the main chords you will ever need in writing a song. There is one more key point to make however:

The bass note:

• The one additional point to add is that chords can be built anyway up you like e.g. C major chord can be built
  – C, E, G (root position)
  – E, G, C (1st inversion)
  – G, C, E (3rd inversion)
  – So long as it always has those 3 notes in it (C, E, G), in any order, it is always a C major chord.
  
• However, those different “inversions” all have their own particular sound. Generally:
  – The one with C at the bottom (root position), sounds the most stable.
  – The 1st inversion sounds a little less stable (and, like the dominant 7th, it wants to move onto the 4th chord i.e. in the case of C 1st inversion, it wants to move onto F major).
  – The 2nd inversion sounds very unstable and can really be used to build up tension
  – You can even build inversions of 7ths e.g. Bb, C, E, G is the 3rd inversion of C major dominant 7th.
  
• All these different permutations of the same notes give ever more possibilities for creating both interesting stand alone chords, but also cool ways of moving from one chord to another e.g.
  – Moving from C major root position triad to F major root position triad gets very boring very quickly (C, E, G to F, A, C)
  – Adding in a dominant 7th and changing a few inversions can make it much more interesting e.g (Bb, C, E, G, to A, C, F)
  – This is C major dominant 7th 3rd inversion moving to F major 1st inversion
  

Key thing when writing good chord sequences it to be aware of:

• Is each chord interesting and does it fit well e.g. does a triad sound a bit boring here. Can I use a more interesting, unusual chord? This will often create very different feelings, even with the same melody over the top.
  
• How do the chord relate to each other? Are there more natural ways I can move between them? Is there tension and release in the places that I want it?
  

Hope that helps – more than happy to show you stuff on a keyboard if you want (it’s pretty hard to do this without a practical element to it!)

Ed

PS this might also help

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chord_(music)#Types_of_chords

Bless him. That’s a lot of thinking.