Dean Cutinelli here from the Colorado School of Music. Remember we are just a call 303-526-9865 or an email info@coloradoschoolofmusic.com away to start your private music lessons. We offer guitar lessons, ukulele lessons, piano lessons, drum lessons, violin lessons, vocal lessons as well orchestral instruments. We offer in-person or online lessons. Now on to our discussion about chords.
Today I will be talking about chords that are native to a major key. Every major key has 7 chords. There are many extensions that can be added to chords that make up the vast variety of chords in music. We will save extensions and altered chords for another time. The major key is comprised of a major I chord, a minor ii chord, a minor iii chord, a major IV chord, major V chord, a minor vi chord, and a diminished vii*chord.
Now I am going to break down each chord into what I like to call chord definitions. Your major I IV and V chords are a root, a major 3rd, and a perfect fifth or R-3rd-5th. Your minor ii and minor iii and vi chords are a root, a minor 3rd and a perfect 5th or R-b3rd-5th. Your diminished chord is a root a minor 3rd and a b5th or R-b3rd-b5th. So for example if we are in the key of C major our major I chord is C and the note are C-E-G. If we wanted to make the C major chord to a C minor chord our notes would then be C-Eb-G. If we want to convert a C major chord to a C diminish chord the note would now be C-Eb-Gb. The next level of chord are your major 7th, minor 7th, dominant 7th and minor 7th b5 chords. I will be discuss these in next months music blog.
As a musician the chord definitions we help you as you continue to learn the different chord rules definitions and notations you will see through our your musical career.
I hope after reading this you have a little better understanding about the chords that are in a major key. Please feel free to contact us and come in for a music lesson from one of our great instructor at the Colorado School of Music in Golden CO. We offer guitar lessons, ukulele lessons, piano lessons, drum lessons, violin lessons and vocal lessons as wells as orchestral instruments.
Thanks for reading!
Dean Cutinelli
