Chords

Lesson 6 of 8 · ~6 min · Interactive

Play three notes at once and you have a chord - the harmony under every song you know. In this lesson you’ll build chords from the intervals you learned in Lesson 5, and train your ear to tell the two most important flavors apart: major and minor.

1.Triads: root, third, fifth

The simplest chord is the triad - three notes stacked in thirds. The bottom note is the root and gives the chord its name. Above it sit the third (three letter names up) and the fifth (five letter names up). C-E-G is a C triad. Watch it light up:

2.Major chords: bright and sunny

A major triad has a major third on the bottom (4 half steps) and a minor third on top (3 half steps). The result sounds bright, stable, happy. These three majors power thousands of songs:

3.Minor chords: moody and warm

Flip the stack - minor third on the bottom, major third on top - and the chord turns wistful. The only difference between C major and C minor is one note moving one half step: E drops to E♭. One semitone, completely different mood. Compare:

4.Chords in songs

Songs move between chords in loops called progressions. The most famous is I-V-vi-IV (in C: C→G→Am→F) - it drives hundreds of pop hits. Hear it:

5.Practice: major or minor?

The essential ear-training skill. Press Play - is the chord major (bright) or minor (moody)?