Guitar Theory - Building Chords
We touched on three note chords in the learn how to play guitar beginners pages and now it’s time to get into how all chords are created. We start every chord with the root note. We build every chord off of the major scale (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8) of our root note. Chords are built across multiple keys by using formulas much like we did when we created our alternate scales or “modes”.Let’s start back at the beginning: The Major Chord
The major chord is created with the formula 1 3 5. That means we use the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes from our major scale to build our chord.
EXAMPLE
‘A’ major chord:
Notice that in this position you play the 1st and 3rd notes in more than one octave.
We can use this formula to find the major chord in any key; provided we are starting with the correct major scale.The next chord we will look at is: The Minor Chord
The minor chord is formed with the formula 1 b3 5. That means we use the 1st, flatted 3rd(lowered 1/2 step), and 5th notes from the major scale.
EXAMPLE
‘A’ minor chord: A C E
It looks like this:
There are two other 3 note chords or “triads”:
Augmented: 1 3 #5
and
Diminished: 1 b3 b5
