{"id":10901,"date":"2016-01-01T00:02:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-01T08:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hearandplay.com\/main\/?p=10901"},"modified":"2024-10-14T20:19:43","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T04:19:43","slug":"major-triad-chord-cheat-sheet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hearplaymain.wpenginepowered.com\/major-triad-chord-cheat-sheet\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 1: The Major Triad + Chord Cheat Sheet"},"content":{"rendered":"

A triad is a chord<\/strong> of three notes.<\/p>\n

What is a chord?<\/strong> A chord is an aggregate or collection of three or more pitches that are sounded together which may be pleasant or unpleasant. The choice of the collection of pitches is determined by an underlying scale and a class of harmony.<\/p>\n

I highlighted texture, relationship, and outcome in the definition above. Here’s what i mean:<\/p>\n

Texture<\/b>: (aggregate [collection] of three or more pitches)<\/i><\/p>\n

Texture here refers to the number of notes that are heard at once. In music, the more the number of notes, the thicker the texture and vice-versa.<\/p>\n

By saying that a chord is an aggregate (collection) of three or more pitches<\/em> means that it takes at least three or more pitches (thicker texture) to form a chord. A chord of three notes is called a triad<\/i>.<\/p>\n

The triad is the thinnest texture of chords, especially when compared, side-by-side, to seventh and other extended chords:<\/p>\n

C maj 7:
\n<\/p>\n

…and extended chords:<\/p>\n

D min 11:
\n<\/p>\n

[thrive_leads id=’11492′]<\/p>\n

Relationship<\/b>: (sounded together)<\/i>.<\/p>\n

The relationship between notes that are heard together<\/em> is known as harmony<\/em> (as opposed to notes sounded successively or one after the other, called “melody”). Chords are harmonic<\/i> structures.<\/p>\n

I choose to call them structures because they are a product of notes that are stacked together (one on top of the other like a building<\/a>). Even though the notes are stacked together, that doesn\u2019t mean that you can stack notes together at random \u2013 No!<\/strong><\/p>\n

The choice of notes to be stacked and played together depends on a given scale<\/b>. It is from this scale that notes are chosen. Notes outside the scale are considered foreign (chromatic). If C major is your underlying scale, the following notes will be considered chromatic (foreign):
\n<\/p>\n

The choice of notes also depends on class of harmony<\/b>. This is simply talking about the distance between one chord tone and another.<\/p>\n

In traditional practice, tertian harmony<\/a> is used. In this class of harmony, the distance between successive chord tones are in thirds.<\/p>\n

In this post, we\u2019ll limit our scope to tertian harmony<\/a> (chords based on third intervals).<\/p>\n

Outcome<\/b>: (pleasant or unpleasant)<\/i><\/p>\n

When notes are combined, they can sound pleasant or unpleasant. When a chord sounds pleasant, its notes are said to be in concord<\/strong> as opposed to discord<\/strong>, where a chord sounds unpleasant as a result of the dissonance<\/a> between chord tones.<\/p>\n

The chord tones of the major triad are in concord, and this is because a breakdown of its intervallic components (the intervals that makes it up) shows the following consonant intervals<\/a>:<\/p>\n