Major and Minor Chords (Triads)

Major and minor chords on piano are the building blocks of harmony. If musical elements were ingredients in a sandwich, the harmony (and therefore the chords) would be the bread. Not so fun on their own, but essential to the construction and flavor of a sandwich (or piece of music).

Understanding how to make and use chords (or more specifically, triads, which are the most basic kind of chords) is imperative to being able to understand, play, and write your own music, from the simplest songs to the most complex of orchestral pieces. Every person who writes music uses this knowledge to know what notes each instrument should play, and knowing chords unlocks the ability to play every song out there.

Harmony is, in simplest terms, everything going on behind the melody that makes the melody sound so nice. Imagine your favorite song, but completely a cappella, with only the singer singing the melody and nothing else. It’s not terrible, but it is just so much better with everything behind the melody included. This is harmony, and it is constructed using chords.

Necessary music Vocabulary

Half-step: Also known as a semitone, a half-step is the distance between one note and its immediate neighbor. For example, from C to C#, from C# to D, or from E to F.

Whole-step: Also known as a whole tone, a whole-step consists of two half-steps. For example, from C to D, from D to E, or from E to F#.

(Note: for a quick review of keyboard layout, and why there aren’t black keys between every two white keys, check out this blog about keyboard layouts!)

Minor Third: A minor third is made up of three half-steps. For example, from C to Eb, from Eb to F#, or from G# to B.

Major Third: A major third is made up of four half-steps (or two whole-steps). For example, C to E, E to G#, or Gb to B.

(A third is a type of interval – the distance between two notes. For a more complete list and explanation of intervals, check out this blog on intervals in music!)

What is the Formula for Chords (Triads)?

A chord is a group of three or more notes. The most basic of chords are called triads, as they are made up of only three notes. You can think of triads as the building blocks of more complex chords (commonly used in jazz music), as well as perfectly acceptable and commonly used standalone chords. This is why it is essential to learn these first before branching off into more complex chords.

The formula for a major chord is made up of a major third, with a minor third on top of it. The formula for a minor chord is made up of a minor third with a major third on top of it. You can remember it by remembering that the type of chord is the same as the first interval (major chord – first third is major).

Lets take C major and C minor for example.

To make C major, I take the first note, C, go a major third (or four half-steps) above to E, and then a minor third (or three half-steps) above that to G. The result is that I play C, E, and G.

To make C minor, I take the first note, C, go a minor third up to Eb, then a major third to G. The result is that I play C, Eb, and G.

All major chords:

Let’s try with another note (and if you have a keyboard at home, I suggest you try and find a few major and minor chords on your own, then check your work with the images provided).

To make E major, I take the first note, E, then go a major third above to G#, and then a minor third above that to B. The result is that I play E, G#, and B.

To make E minor, I take the first note, E, then go a minor third above to G, then a major third above that to B. The result is that I play E, G, and B.

All minor chords:

Note: chords made from the same note (such as C# and Db, or F# and Gb) are identical.

You can see from this (and from other chords, if you try to find them) that the first and last note in major and minor chords are identical, and they only differ by the middle note. And the middle note only differs by one half-step between major and minor chords. This will always be the relationship between major and minor chords, so if you know E major, you can easily find E minor, and vice versa.

In general, major chords sound happy, bold, and excited, and they are commonly used in melodies that attempt to evoke these feelings. In contrast, minor chords sound sad, melancholy, and pensive, and are commonly used in melodies that attempt to evoke those feelings.

Which Chords Fit Where?

As you can see from playing any song or piece of music, the harmony does not sit on one chord, and frequently uses both types of chords in different parts of the music. So how do musicians know which chords fit together?

This is done by only using chords that fit in one key.

As a quick review, a key is a set of notes that sound good together. There are two types of keys, major and minor. For more information, read our blog on the major scale on piano and the minor scale on piano.

Let’s take C major, as it is the simplest key to memorize as it has no white keys.

You now create chords only from notes contained in the key. To make a triad, you pick one note, skip the next, choose that note, skip the next, and choose the next note. So, from C, you skip D and go to E, and then you skip F and go to G. From D you skip E and go to F, then skip G and go to A. You repeat this for all seven notes in the key of C major. If you have access to a keyboard, just use your fingers to create the shape of the first C triad and repeat the shape starting on the remaining notes in the key of C major. This creates seven triads.

All chords in the key of C major:

Using the formula for major and minor triads to reverse calculate what type of chord you are playing, you find out that the first chord is C major, the second chord is D minor, the third chord is E minor, the fourth chord is F major, the fifth chord is G major, the sixth chord is A minor, and the last chord is not major or minor, but a different type of triad called a diminished chord, which is itself called B diminished.

This pattern is conserved in all major keys. If you try to do the same exercise in any other key, you will get the same pattern of three major, three minor, and one diminished chord. The order will also be conserved, meaning the first, fourth, and fifth chords will be major, the second, third and sixth chords will be minor, and the seventh chord will be diminished.

In minor keys, you get a different pattern, but the same number of major, minor, and diminished chords. This is because the minor scale is just a shifted over version of the major scale.

All chords in the key of A minor:

As you can see, the C, F, and G chords are major, the A, D, and E are minor, and the B is diminished, just like in C major. This is because the key of A minor is the relative minor of the key of C major, meaning that it shares the same collection of notes, it just starts on a different note.

(Note: for more information on why major and minor keys are different, read our blog on the minor scale on piano).

How to Use Chords to create music

Chords are used to back up melody. You do this by using chords that have notes from the melody.

Take this simple melody in C major, and three different chord choices for harmony:

In each of these examples, a chord was chosen because it had a note in common with a note in the melody. The first chord in the first example, C, was chosen because a C major chord contains a G, and there is a G in the melody (happening at the same time). The second chord in the first example, G, was chosen because it contains a B, and there is a B in the melody. Every chord in each example was chosen this way.

Another way you can vary your harmony is by changing the rhythm.

In the first (fourth total) example, a chord was chosen every four notes, and in the second (fifth total) example, a chord was chosen for every note in the melody.

There is no correct or incorrect way to harmonize a melody, there is just what sounds good to you. Experiment with different chord choices for the same melody – vary it by rhythm and by which chord you choose. Hear for yourself how different chord choices change the context in which you hear a melody and can even change it from a happy melody to a sad melody. Listen to and play through songs you like and see how your favorite musicians choose to harmonize their melodies.

Just like different bread can change the flavor of a sandwich, even though the inside ingredients are the same, so too can the chords you choose take a mediocre tasting sandwich and change it into a delicious one. And just like there are endless sandwich combinations out there, there are endless choices for how to construct a harmony to accompany a melody.

Want to learn more about how to create chords and music theory? Enroll in private piano lesson at our music school in Boston today!