Chords: Major vs. Minor

Okay,

Now that you have a grasp of what the large letter in a chord symbol means and how you can use that pitch and the 5th pitch above it, let's add some more.

Here's our original chord:





Again, let's strip away the numbers and other symbols, we get:




Now, let's say, for instance, we make a small, insignificant looking change to the chord:




Doesn't look like much, does it? How can it have any effect? Well, if you're only using "C" and "G", it doesn't affect you. (And if you're not sure where I can up with "G", look to the "Understanding Chord Changes" post for reference.) But, if you want to sound like a pro, you need to heed that small letter "M."

There are two types of chords, major and minor. The way we get chords is by adding another letter to the two we already know.

Let's go back to our musical alphabet:

We already use the first letter ("C") and the 5th letter ("G") for our improvised melodies. But to make a chord, we need to add the third letter in line, in this case "E". So a chord built on C as the first pitch or "root" would look like this:

Now here is where it gets tricky. When you have a chord that just has the root written:


This is a "major" chord and it produces a particular sound when all three notes are played simultaneously. The major chord occurs when you play the root(pitch 1), 3rd and 5th note above that naturally occur based on the root's scale. In other words, since the key of "C" has no flats or sharps, if we play "C" "E" & "G" together the result will be a "C major chord".

Once we add that small "M":

The chord has become a "C minor chord". The root ("C") and the 5th ("G") stay the same, but the note in between, the 3rd ("E"), is different. In a minor chord, the 3rd is lowered by a 1/2 step. If you look at a keyboard, two consecutive keys is a 1/2 step. In this case, to make "E" 1/2 step lower, we add a flat. So a "C minor chord" looks like:

As you progress, you'll will find that to make a minor chord, instead of adding a flat, you might end up taking a away a sharp or even adding a second flat to one that is already in existence, but that requires deep knowledge of keys and key signatures.

For now, just remember that a major chord uses the 1st, 3rd, and 5th pitches based on the root's scale, and a minor chord takes the 3rd pitch and lowers it 1/2 step.