GUITAR CHORDS EXPLAINED

Chords

"Chords are set of notes(three or more) played simultaneously ."

HOW TO READ CHORD DIAGRAMS

Major Chords

You can form Major chord in following way-

1- A root note

2- A major third interval note

3- Perfect fifth interval note

e.g. -C major chord is made of the notes C, E, and G.

Minor Chords

You can form a Minor chord in following way-

1- A root note

2- A minor third interval note

3- Perfect fifth interval note

e.g. -C major chord is made of the notes C, E-flat(Eb), and G.

Seventh Chords

It is a bit of more complex than previous ones. You can create Seventh chord in following way-

1- A root note

2- A third interval note

3- A fifth interval note

4- A Seventh interval note

It can further be classified into:

1- Major Seventh Chords

2- Minor Seventh Chords

3- Dominant Seventh Chords

Major Seventh Chords:

You can create Major Seventh chord in following way-

1- A root note

2- A Major third interval note

3- A Perfect fifth interval note

4- A Major Seventh interval note

e.g. :C major seventh chord is made of the notes C, E, G, and B.

Minor Seventh Chords:

You can create Minor Seventh chord in following way-

1- A root note

2- A Minor third interval note

3- A Perfect fifth interval note

4- A Minor Seventh interval note

e.g. :C minor seventh chord is made of the notes C, E-flat(Eb), G, and B-flat(Bb).

Dominant Seventh Chords:

You can create Dominant Seventh chord in following way-

1- A root note

2- A Major third interval note

3- A Perfect fifth interval note

4- A Minor seventh interval note

e.g. :C dominant seventh chord is made of the notes C, E, G, and B-flat(Bb).

Sixth Chords

You can form a Minor chord in following way-

1- A root note

2- A third interval note

3- A fifth interval note

4- A Sixth interval note

There can be different types of Sixth chords including:

1- Major Sixth Chords

2- Minor Sixth Chords

Major Sixth Chords:

You can create Major Seventh chord in following way-

1- A root note

2- A Major third interval note

3- A Perfect fifth interval note

4- A Major Sixth interval note

e.g. :C major sixth chord is made of the notes C, E, G, and A.

Minor Sixth Chords:

You can create Minor Seventh chord in following way-

1- A root note

2- A Minor third interval note

3- A Perfect fifth interval note

4- A Minor Sixth interval note

e.g. :C minor seventh chord is made of the notes C, E-flat(Eb), G, and A-flat(Bb).

Suspended Chords

This is called suspended as there is no third in it, it is either replaced by perfect fourth or second.

There are two types of Suspended chords:

1- Suspended Second Chords

2- Suspended Fourth Chords

Suspended Second Chords:

You can form a Suspended second chord usually denoted as sus2 chord in following way-

1- A root note

2- Second interval note

3- Fifth interval note

e.g. - C suspended second chords made of root note C, D and G.

Suspended Fourth Chords:

You can form a Suspended second chord usually denoted as sus4 chord in following way-

1- A root note

2- Fourth interval note

3- Fifth interval note

e.g. - C suspended second chords made of root note C, D and G.

Slash Chords or Slashed Chords

It is a bit of advanced topic. Slash chords are chords in which a note other than the root note is in the bass position. It is represented as forward slash (/) followed by the desired bass note.

e.g. a C major chord contains the notes C, E, and G. The note “C” the root note. A slash chord (or chord inversion) will place E or G as the bass note. This remains same for triads and sevenths too.

Diminished Chords

Diminished Chords are made of -(Minor Triads+ lowering the fifth by one semi tone or half step) and is denoted by adding "aug" or "°" with the root note.

e.g. -C augmented Chord will be written as Cdim or C°

so, in short, Caug/C° is made of :

1- A root note

2- A Minor third

3- A Perfect fifth

4- Lowering the fifth of the chord by one half step or one semi tone

Augmented Chords

Augmented Chords are made of -(Major Triads+ raising the fifth by one semi tone or half step) and is denoted by adding "aug" or "+" with the root note.

e.g. -C augmented Chord will be written as Caug or C+

so in short Caug/C+ is made of :

1- A root note

2- A Major third

3- A Perfect fifth

4- Raising the fifth of the chord by one half step or one semi tone

Triad Chords

We have already seen chords having three notes and all these are called as triads, So its nothing new just a collective name for them and as a reminder they include:

1- Major triads

2- Minor triads

3- Augmented triads

4- Diminished triads