USING CHORDS
Why Use Chords? - Making Chords - How to Use Chords
HOW TO MAKE CHORDS
You can start on any note of the keyboard and find how to make the chord named after it simply by counting every note, black or white.
The note you start on is called 1 of course and you only play that and the named notes
However as you see below there are several different kinds of chords
Major Chords
The MAJOR chord uses the notes
1 - 5 - 8
The 8 signifies a perfect 5th
Basically you have alternate notes of the keyboard
Minor Chords
The Minor chord uses the notes
1 - 4 - 8
The 8 on the outside is the same
Basically you have alternate notes of the keyboard
So your basic major and minor chords only differ from the middle note.
In the major chord the lower note (which we call an interval of a major 3rd) is bigger and in the minor chord the lower is smaller (guess what, a minor 3rd)
Inversions
The chord we just made had alternate notes all the way up and is called the ROOT position.
Let us say we decided to start from E and we would have an E major chord of
E G# and B or E minor Comfortable to use fingers 1,2 and 4. The chord is still the same name as long as the notes inside are the same, in any order.
When the bottom note is moved to the top it becomes the 1st inversion. There is now a larger gap at the top of it. For the Major chord we have G# B and E Comfortable for fingers 1, 2 and 5 (or 1, 3 and 5 left hand) or it will be G,B and E for the minor.
As a chord symbol that first inversion would be written as E/G#
If you do that again you get the 2nd inversion and the larger gap is now at the bottom. Notes B E and G#. Probable fingering 1,3 and 5 ( or 1, 2 and 5 left hand)
As a chord symbol that first inversion would be written as E/B
So there are Major and Minor Chords - are there any other forms?
Yes Augmented (bigger than Major) and diminished (smaller than minor)
Neither has the standard perfect 5ths (the 1 to 8) to the outside of the root chord Not difficult to guess the the augmented will be a wider gap and the diminished a smaller one!
Plus you can carry on piling 3rds on top of each other to create 7ths, 9ths, 11ths etc.
Sorry about that!
Augmented
Bigger (at the top) than major so
1 - 5 - 9
Our Example Based on E
becomes E G# B#
Written as aug or +
GOOD NEWS
No inversions to learn
Diminished (7th)
Smaller (at the top) than minor so
1 - 4 - 7 - (10)
Our Example Based on E
becomes E G Bb Db
Written as E dim or E°
GOOD NEWS
No inversions to learn
Normal or Major 7ths
Adding another third to either Major or Third is usually just a matter of adding 11 on top of your root position chord, wherher Major or Minor.
This is the note that will not clash too badly if you moved it down next to the normal bottom note.
So our example E chord has a D natural at the top, and oddly enough therefore really belongs to (and leads to as a resolution) the key "below" with one fewer sharp - or one extra flat.
Major 7ths or #7ths
The 7th which clashes belongs to the expected key (in our example of E it has a D#).
You may find it written as E #7, E +7, or E aug7
It has an interesting sound but is rarely used to build further thirds on top of to make 9ths, 11ths, 13ths etc.
So the main one to remember is the normal 7ths.
9ths 11ths 13ths and modifications
Ninths consist of an extra third added on top of a seventh. These, similarly to the sevenths, will not normally clash with the root note in too extreme a manner.
They are an addition normally to standard seventh so
C9 is C E G Bb D
If a diminished 9 were wanted as in
C E G Bb Db
It would probably be written as
C7 b9
and if you run out of fingers you can leave the fifth out if a normal one
Elevenths would most normally be built over a normal 7th and normal 9th like
C11 = C G Bb Db F but without the E if normally to avoid the clash. So you could play it like Gm7 over a C bass
as in Gm7/C
If a composer particularly wants a really nasty chord of course all bets are off and you had better watch out for strange modifications in the chord symbol adjusting it where necessary.
Suspended 4ths
Suspended 4ths do not yet have a third in them, no middle note which tells you whether it is major or minor
After you play that you can decide whether it is going to be a major chord you are moving to, or a minor one..
Dsus4 would have D G and A. The G is the 4th and would tend to go down to the third, the note just under it, which could be either F or F#.
It now of course becomes D minor or D Maaor
Suspended 2nds
There are two possible types of suspended 2nds, one works the same as the Suspended 4th and rise to complete the middle. so D E A becomes D F# A or D F A D minor
The one I play below is the second type, already a major or minor chord and the root of the chord is missing until the 2nd sinks and becomes the missing root. It ia a foregone conclusion what it is going to be.
For Example E F# A goes to D F# A so also moves to D Major
And What about Tenths?
While a wonderful sonorous sound 10ths are not really a separate chord, being a root chord played in the "wrong" order in the left hand by a pianist who either has hands too big for his own good or spread in quick order with the aid of the sustain pedal. They will be dealt with on a page dealing with special left hand techniques.
| Visitor Counter: | |||||||
 | |  |  | |  | ||