Chord Construction - Triads

Week 6

Learning Outcomes

• Be able to construct diatonic major key triads• Know the interval relationships in major,

minor, augmented, diminished and suspended 4th triads

• Be able to provide correct chord symbols for major, minor, augmented, diminished and sus4 triads

• Construct triads

Worksheets Covered

• Worksheet 12

Chords

• Three or more notes played together form a chord

• We describe chords using the same words we describe intervals with: major, minor, augmented, diminished

• Three note chords are called triads• The basic building block for all chord types is

the interval of a 3rd

Diatonic chords

1. Write out the C major scale2. Now go through the scale, and place notes a

3rd above on top of each scale degree 3. Now go through the scale and and place

notes a 3rd above the previous notes

Use notes only diatonic to the key of C major

• The triads you have just created are the diatonic triads of C major

• Diatonic chords for every key are created this way – by stacking diatonic notes of the scale in thirds

• Diatonic means notes exclusive to the key

Diatonic Triads

• The diatonic triads in the key contain 3 of the 4 triadic chord structures: – Major– Minor– Diminished

• We can tell what kind of chord structure it is by analyzing the intervals in the chord

Major triads

• Chords with an interval of a major 3rd from the root (note name of the chord) to the middle note

• A perfect 5th from the root to the top note

G Perfect 5thE Major 3rdC

• What are the notes of the F chord in C?• What are the intervals between the root and

middle note?• What are the intervals between the root and

top note?

• What are the notes of the G chord in C?• What are the intervals between the root and

middle note?• What are the intervals between the root and

top note?

• The chord symbol for major is either– C =C major triad– C major– Cmaj

• At Wintec we use a stand alone letter name to abbreviate major triads, ie. A = A major triad

Minor Triads

• Chords with an interval of a minor 3rd between the root and middle note

• And a perfect 5th between the root and top note

A Perfect 5thF Minor 3rdD

• What are the notes of the E chord in C?• What are the intervals between the root and

middle note?• What are the intervals between the root and

top note?

• What are the notes of the A chord in C?• What are the intervals between the root and

middle note?• What are the intervals between the root and

top note?

• The chord symbol for minor is either– A min– Am– A-

At Wintec, we use Am to abbreviate A minor triad

Diminished Triads

• Minor 3rd from root to middle note• Diminished 5th from root to middle note

F Diminished 5thD Minor 3rdB

• The chord symbol for diminished is either – dim– °

I.e. Bdim or B°• At Wintec we use B° to abbreviate a B

diminished triad

Diatonic Major Key Chords

Augmented Triads

• Major 3rd from root to middle• Augmented 5th from root to top

G♯ Augmented 5thE Major 3rdC

• The augmented triad is not diatonic to a major key

• The chord symbol for augmented is either:– aug – +

• At Wintec we use C+ to abbreviate a C augmented triad

Sus 4 Triads

• Perfect 4th from root to middle• Perfect 5th from root to top

G Perfect 5thF Perfect 4thC

• A suspended 4th chord is a very common chord

• It doesn’t fit the normal pattern of stacked thirds

• A suspended 4th chord is a triad in which the 4th degree replaces the 3rd degree

• The chord symbol for a suspended 4th chord is– Fsus4

Worksheet 12

• Begin Worksheet 12

Next Week:

• Review• Quiz 1 – moved to Week 8• Cheat Sheet – single sided A4 – hand written.