Yamaha Portatone PSR-K1 Owner's Manual page 51

■ About chords
Playing two or more notes together simultaneously creates a "chord."
Playing a note together with two other notes spaced three notes (steps) apart — such
as the notes C, E and G — creates a harmonious sound. Chords like these are called
"triads" and they play an important role in most music.
Taking the chord above as an example, the lowest note of this triad is called the "root note." This is the central note sound,
and it supports or anchors the rest of the notes chord.
You'll notice that the middle note of the chord above (E) is the third step in the succession of scale notes — C, D, then E.
There are two types of "thirds" in chords: major thirds and minor thirds.
Major third — four half steps from the root
We'll also alter the top note of our original chord and make three additional chords, as shown below. (The captions indi-
cate the intervals between each of the notes.)
Major chord
C
M
Minor 3rd Major 3rd
The basic characteristics of the chord sound are same, no matter if we change the order of the notes from bottom to top, or
if we add other same name notes in different octaves. Beautiful sounding harmonies can be built in this manner, and emo-
tional music can be created by playing different chords one after the other according to commonly accepted rules. Har-
mony determines the nature of chords, and music is created based on harmony.
● Chord names
From the chord name, you can tell at a glance what type of chord it is and which
notes make up the chord. Understanding the basic structure of chords is very use-
ful—once you're familiar with this, you'll be quickly and easily play chords by
looking at the names that appear above the notation.
● Chord types
(These chords are among those that can be recognized by the Fingered method.)
Suspended 4 th
C
sus4
th
th Perfect 4
Perfect 5
Minor/major 7 th
C
mM7
Minor chord
Major 7 th
Minor chord
C
m
Major 3rd Minor 3rd
th
7
C
7
Flatted 7 th Major chord
th th
7 , flatted 5
( b5 )
C
7
7 th chord
Flatted 5 th
Minor third — three half steps from the root
Augmented chord Diminished chord
C
aug
Major 3rd Major 3rd
Root note
th
Minor 7
C
m7
th
Flatted 7 Minor chord
Minor 7 th , flatted 5 th
( b5 )
C
m7
Flatted 5 th
Minor 7 th chord
Style Functions
3rd
3rd
Root
C
dim
Minor 3rd Minor 3rd
C
m
Chord type
th
Major 7
C
M7
th
Major 7 Major chord
th th
7 , suspended 4
C
7sus4
th
Flatted 7 th Suspended 4
chord
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PSR-K1 Owner's Manual