2. Music theory can be a huge pain, especially for
vocalists! What most students don’t realize is
that they actually can understand it, as long as
it’s put into words that make sense. We don’t
necessarily think in letters, we think in scales
and solfege.
In this Presentation, we’ll be looking at one of
the building blocks of music: chords.
Chords are really a simple concept, and
hopefully you will all think that too when this
lesson is through!
3. What is Chord
Quality??
I’m sure we’ve all heard the “quality” of a chord is
determined by the 3rd. What does that mean?
First off, “quality” basically means major or minor. The
quality of a Chord means major third? Or minor third?
A chord is stacked in thirds. If it’s a major chord, the first
third is major and the second is minor. Let’s break this
down by looking at the scale.
4. MAJOR CHORD
Our major triad is Do Mi
Sol.
Do to Mi is two whole
steps, (Do Re Mi) making
it a major third.
Mi to Sol is one half step
and one whole step (Mi
Fa Sol), making it a minor
third.
5. Minor Chord
. A minor chord is stacked with a minor third and then a major one.
Do Re Me (which is one half step and one whole step) and Me Fa
Sol (which is two whole steps), making our triad Do Me Sol.
By lowering the third degree a half step, the chord “quality”
changes to minor.
6. Augmented
• An augmented chord is built
with a major third, meaning Do
Mi rather than Do Me.
• The part that we “augment” is
the fifth, by raising it a half
step. This makes the chord
stacked with two major thirds.
Essentially, The Interval
between the root and the fifth
is what was augmented.
7. Diminished
Diminished chords are stacked with MINOR
thirds. So obviously we have Do Me, our
first major third. Now what we’re going to do
with the fifth is diminish it a half step. Me
Se. So now we have Do Me Se, our
diminished chord. These chords aren’t
exactly pretty, but when used in the proper
context, they can really work!
