guitartalk

So you have finally decided to learn guitar? Well, at first it may seem hard and complicated and you might not understand everything fully. That is why I have decided to write these lessons; in hopes that you will be able to understand everything a little better.

In this lesson we will be taking a closer look at chords.

What is a chord?

Since this lesson is aimed at teaching beginning guitar players, I will try and keep away from the complicated definitions. In a nutshell, a chord is a set of three notes or more that are played simultaneously.

There are a large variety of chord types, and while I’m not going to name them all, I will name some of the more common ones. Here are a few: major, minor, augmented, diminished, suspended 6, 7, 9, and 11 (e.g. G#Minor11)

How do you know what a chord is?

In chord construction we use intervals. Intervals define the distance between two notes and describe the type of chord you are using based on the notes of that chord’s scale.

Here is how it works:

With intervals you have (starting from the first to last note): Perfect 1st, Minor or Major 2nd, Minor or Major 3rd, Perfect 4th, Tritone, Perfect 5th, Minor or Major 6th, Minor or Major 7th and the Octave (or 8th note).

The Perfect 1st is the root (starting) note of the scale and is perfect because, since it is the first note which defines what scale you are using, it can not be minor or major.

The 2nd interval of a scale can be minor or major. If it is minor, it will be a half step away from the root note, and a whole step if it is major. This interval is also used to define 9nth chords.

The 3rd interval is one of the more common ones and is used in the majority of simple chords. This can be minor or major as well and will be 1 1/2 whole steps away, from the root, if minor and 2 whole steps away, from the root, if major.

The Perfect 4th is 2 1/2 whole steps away from the root note and can not be minor or major, though it can be augmented or diminished, which is technically doing the same thing by increasing or decreasing it’s distance from the root note. Though as you can see, a diminished 4th could simply be called a major 3rd and an augmented 4th could also be called a Tritone. All this has to do with naming chords and creating name simplicity. Most of your guitar strings are tuned to 4ths, and since the 4th is 2 1/2 whole steps (5 half steps), you tune your guitar using the fifth fret. This is also used to define 11th chords.

The Tritone gets it’s name because it is 3 whole steps away from the root note. It can not be minor or major but can also be called an augmented 4th or diminished 5th, depending on the complexity of the chord.

The Perfect 5th is also one of the most common intervals in chords and is 3 1/2 whole steps away from the root note. It is used in just about every chord. This note has very similar pitch to the octave interval.

The 6th interval of the scale can be minor or major. If it is minor it will be 4 whole steps above the root note and if it is major it will be 4 1/2 whole steps away. This interval also defines 13th chords.

The 7th interval is another very common interval and is used in 7th chords. It can be minor or major. A major 7th is 5 whole steps above from the root note and a minor 7th is 5 1/2 whole steps above.

The Octave or 8th interval is 6 whole steps above the root note and is exactly the same note only of a different pitch. This note is can not be minor or major.

For now I will just explain a few chords and how they work.

A major chord has three intervals: Perfect 1st, Major 3rd, and Perfect 5th. This is called a triad and is the basic chord definition. To make a minor chord all you do is lower the Major 3rd to a Minor. So you have: Perfect 1st, Minor 3rd, and Perfect 5th.

A major 7th chord has four intervals: Perfect 1st, Major 3rd, Perfect 5th, and Major 7th. To make it a minor 7th, you do the same thing you would for the standard chord by lowering the 3rd and you would lower the 7th. So you would have: Perfect 1st, Minor 3rd, Perfect 5th, and Minor 7th.

There is another type of 7th chord called a Dominant 7th Chord and these intervals are: Perfect 1st, Major 3rd, Perfect 5th, and Minor 7th. This chord however is still considered a Major chord because of the Major 3rd.

Let’s take a look at the notes of a Major G scale (naming the intervals):

G(P1)–A(Maj2)–B(Maj3)–C(P4)–D(P5)–E(Maj6)–F#(Maj7)–G(Octave)

Basically, once you get to the 7th interval, the scale repeats itself.

Now, let’s take a look at the notes of a G Major chord:

G-B-D-G-B-G

Although there are 6 strings being played, there are still only 3 different notes in total. This is called a triad.

As we can see the notes that are used are G(Perfect 1st)–B(Major 3rd)–D(Perfect 5th).

So by definition this is a G Major chord.

Hopefully this helped you all. If there is any confusion just let me know in a comment.

I will explain more chords and more complex chords in my next lesson here.

-Dylan

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