Mean Music: 4. INTRODUCTION TO CHORDS

4. INTRODUCTION TO CHORDS

Chords are the vertical arrangement of notes from a scale. The use of chords is Harmony. Harmony is produced when one or more notes interact.

A chord in music is any harmonic set of two or three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together and could be played as arpeggios and broken chords (these involve the notes of the chord played one after the other, rather than at the same time). Chords and sequences of chords are frequently used in modern Western, West African, and Oceanian music, whereas they are absent from the music of many other parts of the world.

In Western classical music, the most frequently encountered chords are triads because it consists of three distinct notes such as the root note, a third above the root and a fifth interval above the root. Further notes may be added to give tetrads such as seventh chords (the most commonly encountered example being the dominant seventh chord) and added tone chords, as well as extended chords and tone clusters. Triads commonly found in the Western classical tradition are major and minor chords, with augmented and diminished chords appearing less often. The descriptions major, minor, augmented, and diminished are referred to collectively as chordal quality. Chords are also commonly classified by their root notes, for instance, a C major triad consists of the pitch classes C, E, and G. A chord retains its identity if the notes are stacked in a different way vertically; however, if a chord has a note other than the root note as the lowest note, the chord is said to be in an inversion (this is also called an "inverted chord").

An ordered series of chords is called a chord progression. One example of a widely used chord progression includes tonic, subdominant, and dominant chords. Although any chord may in principle be followed by any other chord, certain patterns of chords are more common in Western music, and some patterns has been accepted as establishing the key (tonic note) in common-practice harmony–notably the movement between tonic and dominant chords. Western music theory has developed the practicing of numbering chords using Roman numerals which represent the number of diatonic steps up from the tonic note of the scale.

Triads usually consist of three notes; the root or first note, the third, and the fifth. For example, the Cmajor scale consists of the notes C D E F G A B. A triad can be constructed on any note of a major scale or minor scale. A triad formed for C major chord consists of C (the root note), E (the third note of the scale), and G (the fifth note of the scale). The interval from C to E is of four semitones, a major third, and so this triad is called C Major. Similar Major triads could be formed with F and G. A triad formed upon the same scale but with D as the root note, D (root), F (third), A (fifth), has only three semitones between the root and third and is called D minor, a minor triad. Similar Minor Triads can be formed with E and A. The triad formed with B as the root note is a form of diminished Chord with the notes B, D, and F.

4.1. IDENTIFYING NOTES IN THE CHORD AND RELATIVE CHORDS IN A SCALE

The Relative Chords for the Scale helps to play the harmony for the entire song that is in a specific Scale. All the major and minor chords in the Major/Minor Scale are the basic chords and they are all triads. The three notes in the major or minor Chord can be determined by writing the notes of the Scale in order and taking the third and fifth along with the first note.

The simple formula is 1 -- 3 -- 5.

FOR MAJOR SCALES:

The Major Scale has the Relational Major Chords Starting with Tonic (1^st note), Subdominant (4^th note) and dominant (5^th Note) notes of the Scale. The Major Scale has the Relational Minor Chords Starting with Supertonic (2^nd note), Mediant (3rd note) and Submediant (6^th Note) notes of the Scale. These Chords are sufficient to play harmony for the song in a Major Scale.

For example, In C Major Scale,

The Relational Major Chords are

C Major (1^st note/tonic) -C E G, F Major (4^th note/subdominant)- F A C, G Major (5^th note/dominant)- G B D

The Relational Minor Chords are

D Minor (2^nd note/Supertonic) - D F A, E Minor (3^rd note/ Mediant)- E G B, A Minor (6^th note/ Submediant)- A C E

FOR MINOR SCALES:

The Minor Scale has the Relational Minor Chords Starting with Tonic (1^st note), Subdominant (4^th note) and dominant (5^th Note) notes of the Scale. The Major Scale has the Relational Major Chords Starting with Mediant (3rd note), Submediant (6^th note) and Subtonic (7^th note) notes of the Scale. These Relational Chords are sufficient to play harmony for the song in a Minor Scale.

For example, In A Minor Scale,

The Relational Minor Chords are

A Minor (1^st note/tonic)-A C E , D Minor (4^th note/sub dominant)- D F A , E Minor (5^th note/dominant)- E G B

The Relational Major Chords are

C Major (3^rd note/mediant)- C E G, F Major (6^th note/submediant)- F A C, G Major (7^th note/subtonic)- G B D

4.2. NOTATING CHORDS:

Common ways of notating or representing chords in Western music other than conventional staff notation include Roman numerals, figured bass, macro symbols (sometimes used in modern musicology), and chord charts. The figured bass notation was used prominently in the notation of Baroque music, macro symbols are used in modern musicology, and chord charts are typically found in the lead sheets used in popular music and jazz. The chords in a song or piece are also given names, which refer to their function. The chord built on the first note of a major scale is called the tonic chord (colloquially called "I" or "one" chord). The chord built on the fourth note of a major scale is called the subdominant chord (colloquially called "IV" chord or "four" chord). The chord built on the fifth degree of the major scale is called the dominant chord (colloquially called a "V chord" or "five" chord). Names for the chords are based on the keynote and other notes in it. Chords can be played on many instruments, including piano, pipe organ, guitar, and mandolin. Chords can also be performed when multiple musicians play together in a musical ensemble or when multiple singers sing in a choir and they play or sing three or more notes at the same time.

Plain staff notation, used in classical music
Roman numerals, commonly used in harmonic analysis to denote the scale step on which the chord is built.
Figured bass, much used in the Baroque era, uses numbers added to a bass line written on staff (music), to enable keyboard players to improvise chords with the right hand while playing the bass with their left.
Macro symbols, sometimes used in modern musicology, to denote chord root and quality.
Various chord names and symbols used in popular music lead sheets, fake books, and chord charts, to quickly lay out the harmonic ground plan of a piece so that the musician may improvise, jam, or vamp on it. For Instance 1. m, or min for minor, 2. M, maj, or no symbol for major, 3. aug for augmented, 4. dim for diminished.

Characteristics

Two-note combinations of chords or intervals are called dyads. Chords constructed of three notes of some underlying scale are described as triads. Chords of four notes are known as tetrads, those containing five are called pentads and those using six are hexads. Sometimes the terms trichord, tetrachord, pentachord, and hexachord are used. Those more usually refer to the pitch classes of any scale, not generally played simultaneously. Chords that may contain more than three notes include pedal point chords, dominant seventh chords, extended chords, added tone chords, clusters, and polychords.

Polychords are formed by two or more chords superimposed. Often these may be analyzed as extended chords. Examples include tertian, altered chord, secundal chord, quartal and quintal harmony, and Tristan chord). Another example is when G⁷(♯11♭9) (G-B-D-F-A♭-C♯) is formed from G major (G-B-D) and D♭ major (D♭-F-A♭). A nonchord tone is a dissonant or unstable tone that lies outside the chord currently heard, though often resolving to a chord tone.