Chord Basics - Medeli MD700 Instruction Manual

Chord Basics

Three or more notes played together constitute a chord
The most basic chord type is the "triad" consisting three notes:
the root, third, and fifth degrees of the corresponding scale.
A "C major triad", for example, is made up of the notes C (the root),
E(the third note of the C major scale),and G (the fifth note of the
C major scale).
In the C major triad shown above, the lowest note is the " root" of
the chord(this is the chord "root position"...using other chord notes
for the lowest note results in "inversion"). The root is the central
sound of the chord, which supports and anchors the other chord notes.
The distance(interval) between adjacent notes of triad in root position
is either a major or minor third.
The lowest interval in our root-position trial (between the root and the
third) determines whether the triad is a major or minor chord, and we
can shift the highest note up or down by a semitone to produce two
additional chords, as shown below.
The basic characteristics of the chord sound remain intact even if we
change the order of the notes to create different inversions. Successive
chords in a chord progression can be smoothly connected, for example,
by choosing the appropriate inversions (or chord "voicings ").
Reading Chord Names
Chord names tell you just about everything you need to know about a
chord (other than the inversion/voicing). The chord name tells you
what the root of a chord is, whether it is major, minor, or diminished,
whether it requires a major or flatted seventh, what alterations or
tension does it use...all at a glance.
Some Chord Types
's
" ".
Style Control
25