Chords
A group of notes that sound good together.
Here we'll take a look at three of the most common chords: Major, Minor, and Diminished. These are all known as Triads, simply a chord with three notes.
Major Chord
The Major Chord is the most common chord. Whenever you're asked to play a chord without specifying what type, then it's a Major chord. (For example, D Chord = D Major Chord).
- Start with any note. This is the first note in the chord.
- For the second note, count up four notes.
- For the third note, count up three more notes.
- The chord is named after the first note.
Click a note to see its Major Chord.
Minor Chord
The Minor Chord is similar to the Major Chord except that the second note is one lower:
- Start with any note. This is the first note in the chord.
- For the second note, count up three notes.
- For the third note, count up four more notes.
- The chord is named after the first note.
Click a note to see its Minor Chord.
Diminished Chord
The Diminished Chord is a less common chord where the third note is one lower than the Minor chord's third note.
- Start with any note. This is the first note in the chord.
- For the second note, count up three notes.
- For the third note, count up three more notes.
- The chord is named after the first note.
Click a note to see its Diminished Chord.
Next Keys
Since not all notes sound good together, a song will usually use only a subset of the twelve notes. Next, we'll look at some of those subsets.
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