Yamaha DGX-500AD - 88-Note Touch-Sensitive Portable Electronic Keyboard Owner's Manual page 51

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Play the chord.
Play the chord (as indicated in the display) in the auto accompaniment area
of the keyboard. The chord name flashes in the display (and a "congratula-
tions" melody is played) when the correct notes are held down. (Inversions
for many of the chords are also recognized.)
Auto accompaniment area
To leave the Dictionary function, press the [DICTIONARY] button again.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • What is a Chord? • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
The simple answer: Three or more notes played simultaneously is a chord. (Two notes played
together is an "interval" — an interval being the distance between two different notes. This is also
referred to as a "harmony.") Depending on the intervals between the three or more notes, a chord
can sound beautiful or muddy and dissonant.
In this triad, the lowest note is the "root." The root is the most important note in the chord, because
it anchors the sound harmonically by determining its "key" and forms the basis for how we hear the
other notes of the chord.
The second note of this chord is four semitones higher than the first, and the third is three semitones
higher than the second. Keeping our root note fixed and changing these notes by a semitone up or
down (sharp or flat), we can create four different chords.
Major chord
(ex. C)
Minor 3rd Major 3rd
Keep in mind that we can also change the "voicing" of a chord — for example, change the order of
the notes (called "inversions"), or play the same notes in different octaves — without changing the
basic nature of the chord itself.
Inversion examples for the key of C
The organization of notes in the example at left — a triad chord — pro-
duces a pleasant, harmonious sound. Triads are made up of three notes
and are the most basic and common chords in most music.
Minor chord
(ex. Cm)
Major 3rd Minor 3rd
G
E
C
Selecting and Playing Styles
Indicates notes to be played.
001
Flashes when correct notes
are held.
Augmented chord
(ex. Caug)
Major 3rd Major 3rd
C
G
E
Diminished chord
(ex. Cdim)
Minor 3rd Minor 3rd
E
C
G
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