in order to go further with chords we must understand how to construct chords from scales. If you do not understand intervals refer to the section on intervals. To figure out how to construct chords we must understand how to stack 3rd's in a scale key. What I mean is take the root note, then stack notes in 3rd's on top of that to make various chords. So say for instance that we want to know what a C major chord is..... well we would have to know the C major scale, (C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C), so from there we could figure out what the C major chord is by stacking 3rd's. So we know that C is the 1st note of the chord, next we would know that a 3rd up from C is the E note next we need the 5th tone to complete the chord so by stacking a 3rd again from the E note that gives us the G note. So the C,E,G notes make up a C major chord. We can go one step further to make that a 7th chord by stacking one more 3rd interval up again giving us the B note. So the C,E,G,B notes make up a C7 chord (C major 7th) Confused yet.....i thought so but stick with me and you will understand this all.
To understand chord construction we must understand that everything is always compared to the major scale of the key you are trying to figure out. What do i mean, well for instance if we want to figure out the D major chord we have to use the D major scale to do that, also to figure out any type of D chord we have to compare it to the D major scale. We know the D major scale is D,E,F#,G,A,B,C#,D right, so if we wanted to know what a D minor chord was we would look at the major scale and say well a D major chord is the D,F#,and A notes so the D minor would be D,F,A right (refer to the minor chord page for formula for minor chords). What if we want to find out the Dm7 chord, well look at the major scale in D again and by knowing we need the 1,b3,5,b7 notes for that chord that would mean that the D,F,A,C would make a Dm7 chord. (again refer to the page on chord formula to know these). I hope this helps you understand how to construct chords from comparing them to the major scales of the same key.
If you would like to understand how to figure out every chord in a particular scale, refer to the section on Diatonic Chord Progressions to learn each chord in a key.
| Major | Minor | Dominant | (Sus)pended | Diminished |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Major | Minor | Dominant 7 | Sus 2 | Diminished |
| Major 7 | Minor 7 | Dominant 7th add6 | Sus 4 | Minor 7b5 |
| Major 6th | Minor 6th | Dominant 7th add11 | Sus 7th | |
| Major 9th | Minor 9th | Dominant 9th | Sus 7th add6 | |
| Major add 9 | Minor add 9 | Dominant 11th | ||
| Major 6th add9 | Minor 6th add9 |