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D
In order to know how to spell a D
chord, you need to use a Dm chord as your starting point.
Again you will use Dm as your started point for any chord
with the root of D, D,
or D.
That is because Dm contains no sharps or flats. Therefore
you use the Dm as a baseline template that you will alter
to get all other D related chords.
Dm = D(1), F(3),
A(5)
Because the D
chord has a different root than our Dm starting chord, there
is an extra step that you have to go through. You will start
by lowering every note in the Dm chord by a half step so
that the root of your starting chord is D.
You now have a Dm
chord that you are going to alter to get your D
major chord. This intermediate step is going to be important.
In order to alter our base chord to fit what we need, the
roots must be the same.
Dm
= D(1),
F*(3),
A(5)
*Note
to those or you that are confused by the use of an F
instead of using an E. Even though F
sounds the same as E, and in a lot of situations we would
just call this note by it's more simple name...this is
not the case here. F
is 3
of a Dm
chord. Even though E and F
do sound the same, it makes a difference when spelling
chords. E would be some sort of 2, and therefore is not
part of our minor chord formula.
Knowing that a minor chord consists of 1
3
5, and major is 1 3 5, you are going to raise the
F(3)
in the Dminor
chord to an F(3) which will be 3 in the D
major chord.
D
= D(1),
F(3), A(5)
Gaug
In order to know how to spell a Gaug chord, you need to
use the G major chord as your starting point.
G = G(1), B(3), D(5)
First sharp everything in the G major chord
to spell a G
major chord. You have to do this first so that you are dealing
with a base chord that has the same root as the one you
are trying to spell.
G
= G(1),
B(3),
D(5)
The formula for major is 1 3 5. The formula
for augmented is 1 3 5.
So therefore we have to raise the D(5)
in the G
major chord up a half step. That will not be an E note...it
will be a D.
The
is the symbol for a double sharp. A double sharp is were
you are raising a natural note up 2 half steps. Sometimes
that is just how the spelling of a chord will work out.
There may be a double sharp or even a double flat which
is just written as 2 flats side by side ()
Gaug
= G(1),
B(3),
D(5)
Now that you understand the concept of spelling major, minor,
augmented and diminished chords, try spelling some chords yourself.
Below are the links to the answers. So try a few, then check yourself
and see if you are right. If not, go back and read this section
of the lesson again. I would start with chords that have natural
roots (A B C D E F G), then work on chords that have a root that
is either sharp or flat. I would also start with major and minor
chords, since they are more common. Then work on the augmented
and diminished chords.