14
Style Control
Chord Basics
Reading Chord Names
Some Chord Types
Three or more notes played together constitute a
“chord”.
The most basic chord type is the "triad" consisting three
notes:
the root, third, and fifth degrees of the corresponding
scale.
A “C major triad”, for example, is made up of the notes
C (the root),
E(the third note of the C major scale),and
G (the fifth note of the
C major scale).
In the C major triad shown as above, the lowest note is
the “root” of the chord(this is the chord’s “root position”
...using other chord notes for the lowest note results in
“inversion”). The root is the central sound of the chord,
which supports and anchors other chord notes.
The distance(interval) between adjacent notes of triad
in root position is either a major or minor third.
The lowest interval in our root-position triad (between
the root and the third) determines whether the triad is a
major or minor chord, and we can shift the highest note
up or down by a semitone to produce two additional
chords, as shown below.
The basic characteristics of the chord sound remain
intact even if we change the order of the notes to create
different inversions. Successive chords in a chord
progression can be smoothly connected, for example,
by choosing the appropriate inversions (or chord
“voicings”).
Chord names tell you just about everything you need to
know about a chord (other than the inversion/voicing).
The chord name tells you what the root of a chord is,
whether it is a major, minor, or diminished, whether it
requires a major or flatted seventh and what alterations
or tension does it use...all at a glance.
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