Chords are one of the most important concepts in understanding music. They function as a bridge between what your ear hears and what your brain understands. When you hear music, your ears translate the sound vibrations into nerve impulses that are transmitted to your brain via the auditory cortex. The auditory cortex recognizes patterns in sounds and assigns them meaning. Music without chords is meaningless because it does not tell us anything about what notes are being played, or how they should be played. Chords literally tie notes together so any given piece of music has an identifiable melody, rhythm and structure instead of just being a collection of sounds with no sense of order or meaning. Understanding how they work will help you recognize them when you hear them in other pieces of music, which will also enable you to analyze and understand any particular song better than before.
What is a chord?
A chord is a set of three or more notes sounded together. They are one of the main elements of music and are used as a foundation for melodies and/or basslines. A triad is the combination of the three notes of a chord. A major triad consists of the notes of the diatonic scale of a major key. A minor triad consists of the notes of the diatonic scale of a minor key. A seventh chord consists of the notes of a diatonic scale of a major key with a seventh (or half-step) between the two highest notes.
Types of chords
There are two basic types of chords: major and minor. For example, a C major chord consists of the notes C, E, and G. The Cmajor chord is the most common chord type found in popular music. When you hear a Cmajor chord, you know immediately it is a C chord and not a B-flat chord or some other note. Major and minor chords are built from the notes in a diatonic scale. For example, the diatonic scale of C major consists of the notes: C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. If you took the first three notes of any other diatonic scale and used them in a chord, you would have a major or minor chord.
How to build chords
The most basic approach to building chords is to substitute one note of your desired chord for each note in your desired scale. For example, if you were building a Cmajor chord, you would substitute the first, third, and fifth notes of your desired scale for the notes of a C major chord. This process of building chords is what is known as substitution. However, there are other ways to create chords from scales. For example, a dominant seventh chord consists of the note A followed by the notes B, C, and D. A dim seventh chord consists of the notes A, B, C, D, and E.
Chord symbols
Chord symbols are the letters or numbers used to represent musical notes. They are used for professional recording and for writing music. The most common symbols are: Although chord symbols are not necessary, they are helpful to understand music theory because they demonstrate how chords are constructed. For example, a Gmajor triad consists of the notes G, B, and Emaj9. The G major chord is built on 3 notes from the G major scale, namely G, B, and Emaj9. The B major triad consists of the notes B, Em, and C. The B major chord is built on 3 notes from the B major scale, namely B, Em, and C. To write the G major chord in musical notation, you would write: G major chord. For the B major chord, you would write: B major chord.
Major and minor chords
There are many other types of chords not based on triads, but they are not as common in music due to their diminished feel and hard to play for beginners. A major triad consists of the notes of a major scale in which the first note is raised by a half-step. In other words, the first note of a major scale is C, but a major chord is built from notes C, E, G. A minor triad consists of the notes of a minor scale in which the first note is raised by a half-step. In other words, the first note of a minor scale is C, but a minor chord is built from notes C, Eb, F.
Diminished chords
A diminished chord consists of a minor triad but with the third (minor third) note lowered a half-step. In other words, an Edim7 chord consists of the notes E, B, and G. A diminished triad consists of a major triad but with the third (major third) note lowered a half-step. In other words, an A7 chord consists of the notes A, C, and E.
Suspended chords
A suspended chord consists of a major triad with a note (the suspended note) lowered a half-step below the root note. In other words, a C6sus4 chord consists of the notes C, Eb, and G. A suspended triad consists of a major triad with a note (the suspended note) lowered a half-step below the root note. In other words, a G6sus4 chord consists of the notes G, Eb, and C.
Distinguishing between chords and tones
Although they are closely related, chords are not notes and tones are not chords. A chord is a set of three or more notes sounded together, while a tone is a single sound. An example of a tone is the sound of a guitar string when it is plucked. A guitar chord, on the other hand, is a combination of notes from a single scale (e.g., Cmajor). Chords are built from a single scale and are heard as a combination of tones. For example, a Cmajor triad consists of three chords all played on the same note (C) but sounding very differently: Cmajor triad, Cmajor triad, and Cmajor triad.
Examples of common chords in popular songs
Now that you have a better understanding of how chords work, let’s look at some examples of common chords in popular songs. The first example is a Cmajor triad, which consists of the notes C, E, and G. The next example is a Gmajor triad, which consists of the notes G, B, and Emaj9. The following example is a dominant seventh chord, which consists of the note A followed by the notes B, C, and D.
Conclusion
Chords are one of the most important concepts in understanding music. Understanding how they work will help you recognize them when you hear them in other pieces of music, which will also enable you to analyze and understand any particular song better than before.