Chord Construction

Guitar Chords

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The C Major Chord

Chordbook - A wonderful resource if you are truly "in search of the lost chord"...

Chord Construction - Applying the theory to the neck of the guitar... So every basic major and minor chord that you know, and will ever learn, only has 3 different notes in it. If you are strumming a basic C major chord, and play 5 strings...you are still only playing the notes C, E and G. It is just that there are 2 C notes and 2 E notes.

Chord Construction- major chord is simply the 1st, 3rd, 5th and occasionally the 7th notes of the major scale played together. Let�s look at the C major scale. Following the Whole step, Whole step, Half step, Whole step, Whole step, Whole step, ,Half step pattern, the C major scale is made up of the notes: C, D, E, F, G, A, B. Numbering the notes, C is the 1st., D 2nd., E 3rd., F 4th., G 5th., A 6th., B 7th.. (There�s no need to count C twice.) Following the 1st, 3rd and 5th note arrangement for chord construction, C, E and G played together make up the C major chord.

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Chord Construction - Minor Chords Now, we�ll look at minor chords. Like major chords, minor chords are constructed using the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and sometimes the 7th. out of the major scale; however, in this case the third is flatted. For practical purposes, this b3rd is the definition of minor. Any chord, scale, arpeggio or anything else with the third flatted is minor. It is important not to confuse minor (b3) with flatting an entire scale or chord. We only flat the third. (Note: when using the 7th. in a minor chord, it is usually also flatted. But, it�s the flat third that defines it as minor so it is not absolutely necessary to flat the 7th. also.) Look at the examples. To the left is the C major chord. C minor is to the right. The only difference is that the E (third) is flatted in the minor chord.

One way to grasp what is going on is to relate everything to the degrees of the major scale. Take a look at the C Major scale below.

C = 1st...............Starting or root note

D = 2nd..............Tone

E = 3rd...............Tone

F = 4th................Semi-tone

G = 5th................Tone

A = 6th................Tone

B = Major 7th......Tone

C = Octave 8th....Semi-tone

Chord Construction

Major Chord must contain the 1st - 3rd - 5th degrees of the Major scale.. Therefore the chord of C Major must be C E G. As long as you know the major scale you can find the major chord. here is the G Major scale. G -A - B - C -D - E - F# - G Therefore G Major = G - B - D. Find a major scale by starting on any note and following the tone semitone pattern. Then find the 1st - 3rd - 5th. Voila! the Major chord is revealed..

Minor Chords - Once you have found the Major chord the simplest way to find the Minor chord is to flatten the third by one semi-tone. to do this you will be stepping outside the notes belonging to Major scale. Flattening (b sign) a note means take it down in pitch by the amount specified Eb means go to from the E to Eb note. Sharpening a note (# sign) Means the exact opposite E# means go up one semi-tone from E to F.

The Right Wrong Notes

Pratical Use Of The Chromatic Scale

When playing music we can use scales as a guide which will tell us what notes will work best for a particular song. The pentatonic scale is a good example. The five notes in the pentatonic are all you need sometimes, but at some point may players want to be able to venture "outside the box". To do this, we can simply employ the Chromatic Scale.

Pratical Use Of The Chromatic Scale

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The E Major Chord

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Updated: 2/26/07