Chords Reference v0.3 (by FF5)

8/3/2019 Chords Reference v0.3 (by FF5)

1/13

Basic TheoryWhat is a chord?

Simply, it's two or more notes strummed together or arpeggiated (meaning each note is played

separately). A more elaborate explanation could be: the diatonic harmonization of any note on a given

scale. Although only two notes are necessary to build a chord, three note chords (triads) and four note

chords (tetrads) are the basis for chord construction.

What is the composition of a chord?

Before discussing chord composition, lets look a bit at intervals. An interval is the musical distance

from one note to another. When determining the distance between two notes, it's usually made bycounting the amount of tones between them. In western music there are twelve notes and the musical

distance between each and every single note is a half-tone. Two half-tones compose a whole-tone and

any other distance is an addition of these two tonal lengths (ex., three whole-tones, one and a half-tone,

etc). Being a half-tone the shortest distance between two notes, this is the same distance in the smallest

interval in western music and it's called a minor second.

w w h w w w h

C D E F G A B Ch h h h h h h h h h

C#/Db D#/Eb F#/Gb G#/Ab A#/Bb

Depiction of notes and the tonal distance between them (w = whole-tone, h = half-tone).

Relating every note in the major scale (the common ground for western music) to the root of the scale,every interval receives their name according to the number of the note in the scale. Being a seven note

scale, a major scale only has seven intervals. Anything beyond that is the repetition of the scale a pitch

higher(octave being the repetition of the root). The second note of the major scale is always a second,the third note a third...and so on. On the major scale, the second, third, sixth and seventh intervals

receive the major prefix and the fourth and fifth the perfect prefix. Any alteration to the notes of a

major scale could change the interval's prefixes to the following: major intervals to minor and perfectintervals to augmented (in addition to augmented, the fifth can also be diminished). Over the octave the

ninth is the equivalent to the second, the tenth to the third, the eleventh to the fourth...and so on.

w w h w w w h

h h h h h h h h h h

Major scale and the tonal distance between each of its intervals on the top row, plus the other

intervals on the row below and where they sit in relation to the other intervals (w = whole-tone, h = half-tone).

Intervals can also be thought of, by the amount of whole-tones and/or half-tones that separate a notefrom another, but the point of remembering their names is to easily call out large tonal distances.

Root Major second Major third Perfect fourth Perfect fifth Major sixth Octave

Augmented

fifth /

Minor sixth

Augmented

fourth /

Diminished

fifth

Minor thirdMinor second Minor seventh

Major seventh


2/13

Chords are formed from notes of scales (seven notes scales) according to a formula, this being adding

the third interval of the previous note (or stacking thirds). Taking a major triad as example, starting

with the tonic (1) add to it its third (3) and then add the third of the third (5). We end up with the

formula 1, 3, 5. Tetrads follow the same formula, you just add the third of the fifth (7) and end up withthe formula 1, 3, 5, 7. You can keep adding notes this way (namely the 9, 11, 13) and these get the name

extensions. They are the same as 2, 4, 6, but represented an octave higher. Here's a scheme to help

you visualize it:

1 3 5 7 9 11 13(2) (4) (6)

Formula notation goes as follows:

Tonic - 1Second - b2/b9 (minor), 2/9 (major), #2/#9 (augmented)

Third - b3 (minor), 3 (major)

Fourth - 4/11 (perfect), #4/#11 (augmented)

Fifth - b5 (diminished), 5 (perfect), #5 (augmented)Sixth - b6/b13 (minor), 6/13 (major)

Seventh - bb7 (diminished), b7 (minor), 7 (major)

What kind of chords are there?

There are three major kind of chords, major chords, minor chords and dominant chords.

Major

Symbol Name Formula

Major 1, 3, 5

6 Major 6th

1, 3, 5, 6

maj7 Major 7th 1, 3, 5, 7

maj9 Major 9th 1, 3, 5, 7, 9

add9 Major add 9th 1, 3, 5, 9

6 9 Major 6/9th 1, 3, 5, 6, 9

maj7 6 Major 7/6th 1, 3, 5, 6, 7

maj13 Major 13th 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 13

Minor

Symbol Name Formula

m Minor 1, b3, 5

m6 Minor 6th 1, b3, 5, 6

m7 Minor 7th 1, b3, 5, b7

m9 Minor 9th 1, b3, 5, b7, 9

m11 Minor 11th 1, b3, 5, b7, 9, 11


3/13

m add9 Minor add 9th 1, b3, 5, 9

m6 9 Minor 6/9th 1, b3, 5, 6, 9

mmaj 7 Minor major 7th 1, b3, 5, 7

mmaj 9 Minor major 9th 1, b3, 5, 7, 9

Dominant

Symbol Name Formula

7 Dominant 7th 1, 3, 5, b7

7 6 Dominant 7/6th 1, 3, 5, 6, b7

7 11 Dominant 7/11th 1, 3, 5, b7, 11

7 sus Dominant 7th suspended 1, 4, 5, b7

7 6 sus Dominant 7/6th suspended 1, 4, 5, 6, b7

9 Dominant 9th 1, 3, 5, b7, 9

11 Dominant 11th 1, 3, 5, b7, 9, 11

13 Dominant 13th 1, 3, 5, b7, 9, 13

13 sus Dominant 13th suspended 1, 4, 5, b7, 9, 13

7 6 11 Dominant 7/6/11th 1, 3, 5, b7, 11, 13

11 13 Dominant 11/13th 1, 3, 5, b7, 9, 11, 13

Others

Symbol Name Formula

dim Diminished 1, b3, b5

dim7 Diminished 7th 1, b3, b5, bb7

aug Augmented 1, 3, #5

sus: On suspended chords the third is replaced with a fourth, unless specified to be replaced with a second (ex., A sus2).add: It's used to add extensions to triads (ex., E add9).

InversionsNormally one plays chords with its tonic as the note with the lowest pitch in the chord, because the

lowest note of a chord occupies a wider frequency spectrum (there are more audible harmonics in

lower pitches) and makes it easy to tell what chord is being played. An inversion is as simple as it

sounds, a chord with inverted notes. How so? The third, fifth or seventh are inverted so that they act asthe note with the lowest pitch in the chord, giving it a different sound. From there on it's a matter ofpermutation how one wants to arrange the remaining notes of the chord. Example:

1st inversion 2nd inversion 3rdinversion

3, 5, 7, 1 5, 7, 1, 3 7, 1, 3, 5

3, 5, 1, 7 5, 7, 3, 1 7, 1, 5, 3

3, 7, 1, 5 5, 1, 3, 7 7, 3, 5, 1


4/13

3, 7, 5, 1 5, 1, 7, 3 7, 3, 1, 5

3, 1, 5, 7 5, 3, 7, 1 7, 5, 1, 3

3, 1, 7, 5 5, 3, 1, 7 7, 5, 3, 1

Any other note acting as the note with the lowest pitch in the chord, is just thought of as an added bass

note (ex., C/D C major with a D bass note). Usually the inversion is given in the notation (ex.,Am7/G), but some charts might only give you the chord reference and leave you to decide how to play

it.

Scale HarmonizationAs said previously, chords are built out of notes from a scale and every note of a particular scale is thestarting note of another scale, those scales are called modes. There are three most frequently used

scales (and their respective modes) that drive most of the popular music today. These are the major

scale, the harmonic minor scale and the melodic minor scale. Here's a harmonization table for thesescales:

I II III IV V VI VIIMajor m m m dim

Major (7) maj7 m7 m7 maj7 7 m7 m7b5

Harmonic minor m dim aug m dim

Harmonic minor (7) mmaj7 m7b5 maj7#5 m7 7 maj7 dim7

Melodic minor m m aug dim dim

Melodic minor (7) mmaj7 m7 maj7#5 7 7 m7b5 m7b5

Blank space means major chord (1, 3, 5)

As example, the harmonization of C melodic minor with triads is:

Cm Dm Eaug F G Adim Bdim

The harmonization of F major with tetrads would be:Fmaj7 Gm7 Am7 Bbmaj7 C7 Dm7 Em7b5

The roman numerals represent the degree in the scale and are used to represent chord progressions.

Chord progressions are successions of chords. There are a few safe and proven progressions widelyused in popular music, like I-IV-V, II-V-I and others (this and other topics will be discussed in future

revisions of this document).

Chord BuilderHere are three (hopefully friendly) color coded diagrams to build chords. Extensions on the sixth string(low E) have been omitted for an easier readout and less convoluted diagram. Before going any further,

a few tips on building chords and chords in general.

One fingering of a chord can have more than one name, it all depends on where (progression)or how (fingering) it's used.

Chords that have close intervals (notes separated by a minor or major seconds), sound best

when those intervals are not close to each other (displaced an octave or two). Specially when

those intervals are on the lower pitch strings (E, A, D).


5/13

The more separation between intervals in a chord, the better and more detailed it will sound.

Specially on very dense chords.

One has a limited amount of fingers and reach, so some chords are humanly impossible to

finger. That's when one has to eliminate certain notes to ease the fingering of the chord. Every

extension or altered note implied in the chord name has to be fingered. There are two notes thatdefine the characteristic of a chord, those are the third and the seventh. So every triad has to

have the third and every tetrad has to have the third and the seventh. When disposing of notesin a chord start with the fifth and then the tonic.

Color code:

1, 3, 5 (major and dominant)

1, b3, 5 (minor)= Red

7 = Light green b7 = Dark green

b9/b2 = Gray 9/2 = Yellow

#9/#2 = Orange 11/4 = White

#11/#4/b5 = Pink #5 = Purple

13/6/bb7 = Blue

Major

Minor

Dominant


6/13

R eference Chord ChartFinally, some fingerings for the basic tetrads. I will use my own interpretation of the chord box

diagram:

A

2

1 5 1 3 5

The goal will be to create a reference chart for all tetrads with the following approach, having the bass

note on the fourth string, then on the fifth string and finally on the sixth string. Every three of theirinversions will also be covered. To keep this chart unattached from any particular note, I'll restrain from

giving these chords any name and only name them after its type. Therefore they will also lack any

marking as to where they should be fretted, with the purpose of learning every chord as a floating

chord. By this, meaning that at whichever fret you finger a particular chord it will be a chord of the

type indicated.

1 3 5 7 1 b3 5 b7 1 3 5 b7 1 b3 b5 b7

Name of the chord

Muted string

Open string

Fretted notes

Alternative notes

Notes of the chord (not including the alternative notes)

Fret position

maj7 m7 7 m7b5


7/13

1 5 7 3 1 5 b7 b3 1 5 b7 3 1 b5 b7 b3

1

s

t

i

n

ve

r

s

i

on

3 7 1 5 b3 b7 1 5 3 b7 1 5 b3 b7 1 b5

2n

d

i

n

v

e

rs

i

o

n5 1 3 7 5 1 b3 b7 5 1 3 b7 b5 1 b3 b7

3

r

d

i

n

v

e

r

s

i

on

7 3 5 1 b7 b3 5 1 b7 3 5 1 b7 b3 b5 1

maj7

maj7 m7 7 m7b5

maj7 m7 7 m7b5

maj7 m7 7 m7b5

m7 7 m7b5


8/13

1 5 7 3 1 5 b7 b3 1 5 b7 3 1 b5 b7 b3

1

s

t

i

n

ve

r

s

i

on

3 7 1 5 b3 b7 1 5 3 b7 1 5 b3 b7 1 b5

2n

d

i

n

v

e

rs

i

o

n5 1 3 7 5 1 b3 b7 5 1 3 b7 b5 1 b3 b7

3

r

d

i

n

v

e

r

s

i

on

7 3 5 1 b7 b3 5 1 b7 3 5 1 b7 b3 b5 1

maj7

maj7 m7 7 m7b5

maj7 m7 7 m7b5

maj7 m7 7 m7b5

m7 7 m7b5


9/13

1 5 7 3 1 5 b7 b3 1 5 b7 3 1 b5 b7 b3

1

s

t

i

n

ve

r

s

i

on

3 7 1 5 b3 b7 1 5 3 b7 1 5 b3 b7 1 b5

2n

d

i

n

v

e

rs

i

o

n5 1 3 7 5 1 b3 b7 5 1 3 b7 b5 1 b3 b7

3

r

d

i

n

v

e

r

s

i

on

7 3 5 1 b7 b3 5 1 b7 3 5 1 b7 b3 b5 1

maj7

maj7 m7 7 m7b5

maj7 m7 7 m7b5

maj7 m7 7 m7b5

m7 7 m7b5


10/13

1 5 7 b3 1 #5 7 3 1 b5 bb7 b3

1s

t

i

n

ve

rs

i

o

nb3 7 1 5 3 7 1 #5 b3 bb7 1 b5

2

n

d

in

v

e

r

s

i

on

5 1 b3 7 #5 1 3 7 b5 1 b3 bb7

3

r

d

i

n

v

e

r

s

i

on

7 b3 5 1 7 3 #5 1 bb7 b3 b5 1

mmaj7

mmaj7

mmaj7

maj7#5

maj7#5

maj7#5

dim7

dim7

dim7

mmaj7 maj7#5 dim7


11/13

1 5 7 b3 1 #5 7 3 1 b5 bb7 b3

1

s

t

i

n

ve

r

s

i

on

b3 7 1 5 3 7 1 #5 b3 bb7 1 b5

2n

d

i

n

v

e

rs

i

o

n5 1 b3 7 #5 1 3 7 b5 1 b3 bb7

3

r

d

i

n

v

e

r

s

i

on

7 b3 5 1 7 3 #5 1 bb7 b3 b5 1

mmaj7

mmaj7

mmaj7

mmaj7

maj7#5

maj7#5

dim7

dim7

maj7#5 dim7

maj7#5 dim7


12/13

1 5 7 b3 1 #5 7 3 1 b5 bb7 b3

1

s

t

i

n

ve

r

s

i

on

b3 7 1 5 3 7 1 #5 b3 bb7 1 b5

2n

d

i

n

v

e

rs

i

o

n5 1 b3 7 #5 1 3 7 b5 1 b3 bb7

3

r

d

i

n

v

e

r

s

i

on

7 b3 5 1 7 3 #5 1 bb7 b3 b5 1

mmaj7

mmaj7

mmaj7

mmaj7

maj7#5

maj7#5

dim7

dim7

maj7#5 dim7

maj7#5 dim7


13/13

Notice how every dim7chord has the same fingering, no matter what its inversion is.

To be eventually continued...

The material presented here comes from something I began writing years ago, but never cared to do itin a cleaner format. Although most of it is self-made, few examples were taken/adapted from other

books about the subject in matter (mainly Ted Greene's Chord Chemistry). Originally I only wanted

to write cleanly only the things I needed, but later on decided to write all the stuff I have so far aboutchords, so that anyone who has problem understanding the basics about chords could overcome their

issues. I've tried to compress the information as much as I could in order to make this guide portable

and hopefully easy to read and understand. Since my original material is quite old, raw and I had to

translate it to english, take this material as a work always in progress. In the not near future I mightrevisit the document and search for mistakes, look for further improvements in the delivery of the

content and hopefully at some point add more topics like progressions, chord substitutions, etc. If

anyone finds a musical or communicational mistake, has any input as to ways to improve/add content(but no content beyond the topics found at the current stage of this document) or has any

doubts/problems with the information presented, please feel free to contact me through

http://www.petrucciforum.com (user name FF5), http://www.facebook.com/therealff5 orhttp://www.youtube.com/user/therealFF5.

FF5 v0.3
http://www.petrucciforum.com/http://www.facebook.com/therealff5http://www.youtube.com/user/therealFF5http://www.facebook.com/therealff5http://www.youtube.com/user/therealFF5http://www.petrucciforum.com/

Documents

Chords Reference v0.3 (by FF5)