Beginning Theory

I hope this page helps you as you learn you craft. These lessons are designed with the beginner in mind. There will be video to accompany many of these lessons to demonstrate some of the concepts. Please let me know if this is a blessing to you. Happy learning!

Start here

This is a post about the basics of scales

Intervals are next

Next lesson:

CHORDS!!! Come backsoon!

As promised I am back with beginning lesson on chords.  I hope that you have read the two previous entries I have posted on Scales and intervals.  You must learn those concepts first for the lesson on chords to make any sense to you.  I have gathered much of this information from various sources on the internet and from my own library of books I use to learn theory from.

What is a Chord?

A chord is a combination of two or more intervals.  A triad is the simplest form of a chord.  A triad chord consists of 3 different notes.  Remember when I taught you the formula for a major scale?  (WWHWWWH) Well, chords also have formulas.  Now you must also know the scale for the chord you are forming in order to know what notes to plug in to the formula.  That is why I introduced scales first! The triad is the basis for our whole harmonic system and you really need to understand them fully.

The basic triad types and their formulas are:

Major=Root, major 3rd,  perfect 5th

Minor=Root, minor 3rd, perfect 5th

Augmented=Root, major third, and augmented 5th

Diminished=Root, minor third, and diminished 5th

Root means the starting note or the name of the chord. For example  a C chord means that the C is the root or bottom note in this chord.

If you do not understand the formulas, you need to revisit the lesson on intervals. (scroll up on this page to find that lesson link)

Ok, now let’s build some chords! 

I am going to choose the  key of C

Scale:  C D E F G A B C

Now let’s build a C major chord:

The formula for a major chord is: Root, major 3rd, perfect 5th. So let’s plug the right notes from the C scale into the formula to form this chord.

Root-C

Major 3rd-E

Perfect 5th-G

Thus a C Major chord is spelled CEG.

It is that simple! Now let’s build the other chord types.

C minor chord

Root- C

minor 3rd-Eb

perfect 5th G

Thus a C minor chord is spelled CEbG

C Augmented

Root-C

Major 3rd-E

Augmented 5th G#

Thus a C Augmented chord is spelled: CEG#

C diminished

Root-C

Minor 3rd-Eb

Diminished 5th-Gb

Thus a C diminished chord is spelled CEbGb

You will see these different chords notated in different ways, so here are some of the ways these will be notated on a lead sheet or on a piece of music.

C Major :  C,  CMaj,

CMInor:  Cm, Cmin, C- (minor and diminished chords are notated using lower case letters and lower case Roman numerals)

C Augmented: CAug, C+

C diminished: Cdim,  YOu will also see this notated with a superimposed circle next to the C or chord. I do know how to do that right now.

Do you see how important it is to know ALL of the scales?  When you form a chord you are using that root’s scale to determine the correct notes to add.  For example:

G Major

G scale: G A B C D E F# G

Root: G

Major 3rd: B

Perfect 5th:D

I hope this gets you started understanding how chords are constructed.  Here is a link to an awesome free tool that lists all of the chords for you in all 12 keys.