These chords are shown with the root note C. Other root notes are possible by transposing these chords. For example, a C Major chord (C, E, G) can be transposed to D. This will result in a D Major chord (D, F-sharp, A).These chords are constructed from musical intervals. Each chord has:
- A Root note
- A note a Major third (M3) or minor third (m3) above the Root
- A note a Perfect fifth (P5), Augmented fifth (A5), or diminished fifth above the Root
- And seventh chords also have a note a Major seventh (M7), minor seventh (m7), or diminished seventh (d7) above the Root.
The basic chords:
- Major - Root, M3, P5
- minor - Root, m3, P5
- Augmented (Aug) - Root, M3, A5
- diminished (dim) - Root, m3, d5
The seventh chords:
- 7 - Root, M3, P5, m7
- M7 - Root, M3, P5, M7
- m7 - Root, m3, P5, m7
- dim7 - Root, m3, d5, d7
- half dim7 - Root, m3, d5, m7
Example:
If we choose a Major chord for example we begin by picking a Root note. We could pick any of the 12 notes but in this case we will choose G. The next note we need is a Major third (M3) above the Root, which in this case would be the note B. The final note we need is a Perfect fifth above the root, which in this case would be the note D. Now we have all three notes of our Major chord: G, B, and D.
For reference here is a diagram of the keyboard with the note names on it:
Now that you know these chords you might want to learn about chord inversion, chord symbols, or extended chords.