By now, you've learned several chords, both open chords and barre chords, and have probably experimented with creating your own chord progressions. One of the challenges with creating your own chord progressions is knowing what chords to play. This is made a lot easier if you know what the possibilities are.
In this confession, we'll learn how to harmonize the major scale, which is a fancy way of saying we'll learn the basic chords that work with any particular major key.
The principal chords for a particular major key can be summarized by the following formula:
I - ii - iii - IV - V - vi - viio
What does this cryptic formula mean? How can it help me know what chords to play? Will it make me more attractive to the opposite sex? Read on to find out...
TIP: Melody refers to a series of notes played one after the other. You can whistle a melody. Harmony refers to two or more notes played simultaneously, which is what you do when you play a chord on your guitar.
HOW CHORDS ARE MADE
Chords are built by taking a root note, and then adding two or more additional notes from whatever particular musical key you are working in (i.e. a chord consists of at least 3 notes). For this confession, we'll work in the key of C, and use the piano keyboard to help us visualize the building of chords.
As we learned in Confession #8 - Learn the Major Scale!, the notes of the major scale in the key of C are:
C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C
These notes are arranged on the piano keyboard as follows:
To harmonize the C major scale, we start with a root note, and then add the note that is two notes away from the root, and the note that is two notes away from the second note (this distance is referred to as a diatonic third interval, but don't get bogged down with the theory).
Put another way, start with the root note, skip a note and take the next note, skip another note and take the next note.
HARMONIZING THE MAJOR SCALE
C MAJOR CHORD
Let's harmonize the C major scale by starting with the first note of that scale, C.
Starting on our root note C, and applying the skipping formula above, the notes of our chord will be C, E and G.
C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C
The notes C, E and G give us a C major chord.
Observe that the second note of the chord is 4 semi-tones higher than the root note. Also observe that the third note of the chord is 3 semi-tones higher that the second note. Because the distance between the root note and the second note of the chord is 4 semi-tones, the chord will be a major chord and have a happy feel to it.
The chord that is built on the first note of the major scale will always be a major chord, no matter what key you are playing in!
D MINOR CHORD
Let's move on to the second note in the C major scale, D.
Starting on our root note D, and applying the skipping formula above, the notes of our chord will be D, F and A.
C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C
The notes D, F and A give us a D minor chord.
Observe that the second note of the chord is 3 semi-tones higher than the root note. Also observe that the third note of the chord is 4 semi-tones higher that the second note. Because the distance between the root note and the second note of the chord is 3 semi-tones, the chord will be a minor chord and have a sad feel to it.
The chord that is built on the second note of the major scale will always be a minor chord, no matter what key you are playing in!
E MINOR CHORD
Let's move on to the third note in the C major scale, E.
Starting on our root note E, and applying the skipping formula above, the notes of our chord will be E, G and B.
C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C
The notes E, G and B give us an E minor chord.
Observe that the second note of the chord is 3 semi-tones higher than the root note. Also observe that the third note of the chord is 4 semi-tones higher that the second note. Because the distance between the root note and the second note of the chord is 3 semi-tones, the chord will be a minor chord and have a sad feel to it.
The chord that is built on the third note of the major scale will always be a minor chord, no matter what key you are playing in!
F MAJOR CHORD
Let's move on to the fourth note in the C major scale, F.
Starting on our root note F, and applying the skipping formula above, the notes of our chord will be F, A and C.
C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C
The notes F, A and C give us an F major chord.
Observe that the second note of the chord is 4 semi-tones higher than the root note. Also observe that the third note of the chord is 3 semi-tones higher that the second note. Because the distance between the root note and the second note of the chord is 4 semi-tones, the chord will be a major chord and have a happy feel to it.
The chord that is built on the fourth note of the major scale will always be a major chord, no matter what key you are playing in!
G MAJOR CHORD
Let's move on to the fifth note in the C major scale, G.
Starting on our root note G, and applying the skipping formula above, the notes of our chord will be G, B and D.
C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C - D
The notes G, B and D give us a G major chord.
Observe that the second note of the chord is 4 semi-tones higher than the root note. Also observe that the third note of the chord is 3 semi-tones higher that the second note. Because the distance between the root note and the second note of the chord is 4 semi-tones, the chord will be a major chord and have a happy feel to it.
The chord that is built on the fifth note of the major scale will always be a major chord, no matter what key you are playing in!
A MINOR CHORD
Let's move on to the sixth note in the C major scale, A.
Starting on our root note A, and applying the skipping formula above, the notes of our chord will be A, C and E.
C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C - D - E
The notes A, C and E give us an A minor chord.
Observe that the second note of the chord is 3 semi-tones higher than the root note. Also observe that the third note of the chord is 4 semi-tones higher that the second note. Because the distance between the root note and the second note of the chord is 3 semi-tones, the chord will be a minor chord and have a sad feel to it.
The chord that is built on the sixth note of the major scale will always be a minor chord, no matter what key you are playing in!
B DIMINISHED CHORD
Let's move on to the seventh note in the C major scale, B.
Starting on our root note B, and applying the skipping formula above, the notes of our chord will be B, D and F.
C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C - D - E - F
The notes B, D and F give us a B diminished chord.
Observe that the second note of the chord is 3 semi-tones higher than the root note. Also observe that the third note of the chord is 3 semi-tones higher that the second note. Two intervals of 3 semi-tones produce a diminished chord, which has a unique sound to it. Diminished chords are not heard in popular music very often.
The chord that is built on the seventh note of the major scale will always be a diminished chord, no matter what key you are playing in!
BUT WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?
From the examples above, what we've learned about the major scale is that:
- the chord built on the 1st note is a major chord,
- the chord built on the 2nd note is a minor chord,
- the chord built on the 3rd note is a minor chord,
- the chord built on the 4th note is a major chord,
- the chord built on the 5th note is a major chord,
- the chord built on the 6th note is a minor chord, and
- the chord built on the 7th note is a diminished chord,
If you are playing in the key of C, the major chords in that key are C, F and G (the 1st, 4th and 5th notes of the C major scale). The minor chords are D, E and A (the 2nd, 3rd and 6th notes of the C major scale).
If you are playing in the key of G, the major chords in that key are G, C and D (the 1st, 4th and 5th notes of the G major scale). The minor chords are A, B and E (the 2nd, 3rd and 6th notes of the G major scale).
Note that the number that we assign to each note of any particular scale (i.e. 1st note, 2nd note, etc.) is called a scale degree.
CHORD NOTATION
Musicians often use scale degrees when referring to chords in a particular key. You've probably heard the expression, "one, four, five rock". This means that the song uses the one, four and five chords in whatever key it happens to be in.
When writing chords down on paper, we use roman numerals.
We only use uppercase roman numerals to refer to major chords. Thus, the one, four, five rocker mentioned above would be written down like this:
I - IV - V
We use lowercase roman numerals to refer to minor chords. So, if a song was based on a two, three, six progression, it would be written down like this:
ii - iii - vi
The diminished chord has a minor quality to it (because, like a minor chord, there are 3 semi-tomes between the first note and the second note), so it is also written in lowercase, with a superscript o after it, which signifies the diminished chord. Thus, the seven chord is written down like this:
viio
When we put all the chords down in order, we get the formula at the beginning of this post:
I - ii - iii - IV - V - vi - viio
The roman numeral tells us which scale degree of the major scale the chord is built on, and the case tells us the quality of the chord, uppercase for major, and lowercase for minor.
EXAMPLE
Back in Confession #5 - Use a Metronome!, I introduced the following chord progression:
G-Em-C-D7
which I described as a I-vi-IV-V7 progression in the key of G. After today's lesson, you now have an understanding of what a a I-vi-IV-V7 progression is.
Note that the V7 refers to the five chord, as signified by the uppercase V. The 7 after the V tells us to add a note and turn it into a dominant seventh chord (see Confession #13 - Learn More Barre Chords! for some dominant seventh chord fingerings). I'll explain more about dominant seventh chords in a future confession.
MEMORIZE THE FORMULA
Once you've memorized the formula:MEMORIZE THE FORMULA
I - ii - iii - IV - V - vi - viio
you can pick a key and know the basic chords that work in that key just by applying the formula to the notes of the major scale in that key (see Confession #8 - Learn the Major Scale! for a refresher on building the major scale in any key).
Of course these aren't the only chords within the key, but knowing the basic chords that work will allow you to create your own progressions and ultimately to write your own songs, which just might make you more attractive to the opposite sex.
Next Week's Confession - Find the I, IV, V in Any Key!
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