Mommy, where do chords come from? There gets to be a time in everyone’s musical development when the question comes up. You know how to play a lot of chords. But where do they come from? What makes a D chord a D chord? What makes a D chord different than a D minor?
Well this guitar lesson is going to dig into the basics for chord construction. Both in general music theory terms, and specifically how it applies to the guitar.
- For more on chord construction and how it applies to the neck of the guitar, check out my Rhythm Guitar Mastery course. I have a whole section dedicated to chord theory. Plus you will build your vocabulary rhythms, strums & chords.
(Video Guitar Lesson 1 of 3)
Building Chords From the Major Scale
Chords are built from scales. Taking a look at the basic chords built from a C major scale is the best place to start your chord theory exploration. A C major scale contains no sharps or flats. Below are the notes of a C major scale.
C Major scale = C D E F G A B C
If you start on C and skip every other note in the scale for a total of 3, this a C major chord.
C D E F G A B C
|___|___| = C (C major chord)
If you start on D and do the same thing, a Dm chord is created. What makes this a minor chord will be looked into later in this lesson.
C D E F G A B C
|___|___| = Dm (D minor chord)
The process of stacking 3 notes up in the major scale could continue until you have a total of 7 different chords, one for each note of the scale.
C D E F G A B C
|___|___| = Em (E minor chord)
C D E F G A B C
|___|___| = F (F major chord)
C D E F G A B C D
|___|___| = G (G major chord)
C D E F G A B C D E
|___|___| = Am (A minor chord)
C D E F G A B C D E F
|___|___| = Bdim* (B diminished chord)
*A diminished chord is just another “flavor” of chord sound. Plain 3 note diminished chords are not very common on the guitar. So for now you are going to learn that they exist, but don’t lose sleep because you don’t know how to play one.
Basic Triads Built from the C Major Scale
The first chords that we are taking a look at are sometimes referred to as triads. A triad is just a term for a 3 note chord.
So putting it all together, here are the 7 basic triads built from the C major scale. (The small circle after the B is the a common chord symbol for diminished)
It’s a little easier to visualize how chords are created on the piano as opposed to the guitar. The video below shows these seven chords and how they would be played on the piano. The white keys from C to C form a C major scale. Therefore to create the basic chords, you skip every other white key. This video does not have any sound.
Guitar Lesson Navigation
Page 2, Applying the Theory & Comparing Major and Minor >>>
Page 3, Chord Formulas >>>
