music theory help. chords?

[Zkeeto]

to start im lookin for very basic help with chords, not to come off sounding rude but please help me with just the basics of chords because to much information at once is very hard to comprehend.

ok so ive been readin a music theory tutorial article lately to further my knowlege of it. I understand major and minor scales and the notes within those scales. Now im onto chords (ill mention the makeup of minor chords since thats what i use) I read in the article that the minor chords are made up of the 2,3,6 notes of the scale (if i read it right, please correct me if im wrong) so my question is this, if you want to use a chord you can use any or all of those three notes simeltaneously right? also at the start of your riff you start with the first note of the scale(do u have to start with the first note of your scale or not as long as your still in your scale?). what i dont understand is do you use the first note of the scale in your chord or not? it makes sense to me to use it because its your root note but then again its not mentioneed as the three notes that makeup that minor chord.

sorry if these questions are a jumbled mess(theyre that way in my head to) but any advise, corrections or feedback would be very helpful. I really want to understand chords, I never use them because i have a very very rough knowledge of them but i know they will make my tunes better. Im a drummer so that stuff isnt really relevent to drums so ive never thought or cared about them until I started producing. Thanks guys

[drake89]

I think you're pretty confused. Take a note in a key signature, on staff paper. If it's on a line then the two lines above it are what you add to make a chord, if it's in a space then the two spaces above it. If you memorize ACE, BDF, CEG, DFA, EGB, FAC, and GBD then put them in the context of a key signature, that should be a good start. As far as major and minor chords go, a major chord has 3 notes between the 1st n 2nd notes and two notes between the 2nd and 3rd. A minor chord has the opposite shape- 2 and 3.

[Zkeeto]

ya man im way confused. ok that kind of helpd a little. i jus wish i could understand easier

[makerowner]

Yeah you're confused. It's not that minor chords are made of the 2, 3, and 6, it's that if you start with a major scale, then build triads on each note of the scale, the triads on the 2, 3, and 6 will be minor triads. A triad just means a 3-note chord where you go two notes up the scale between each note.

I don't think you're getting the difference between the root, which is the bottom note of the chord (I'm not going to get into inversions) and the tonic, which is the key that all of the chords are in.
So in the key of C it goes like this :

G A B C D E F
E F G A B C D
C D E F G A B
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The root of the 2 chord is D, but the key we're working in is C major.
The key of your tune helps you figure out what chords will work well together, but in any given part of the tune you could have any one of those chords playing. Then which chord is playing will help you figure out which melody notes will work.
The tune as a whole might be in C major, but if you have a pad playing a D minor chord and a sub playing a D, then D, F, and A will be good notes for the melody, and especially for the ends of phrases. Doesn't mean you can't use other notes though.

Are you using a keyboard? It'll probably help to understand this if you play through the chords, and try to visualize them on a keyboard.

[Zkeeto]

yeah i have a keyboard and i can play a chord if I can see which notes i need to be playing but what I dont understand is how I go about finding and using those notes correctly. a chord is 2 or more notes played together right? those notes just have to be the correct notes to make up that chord.

does your chord more than less have to have the first note of the key your in included in that chord?
sorry for my ignorance. im probably making this harder than it is

[KRages]

http://www.looknohands.com/chordhouse/piano/ this should help.

[Zkeeto]

KRages- thanks for that i had a look around on it and i think i just gotta learn how to use it. it just shows you different chords and scales and stuff right? thats great but I want to be able to just know how to make a chord for whatever scale im in.

Drake89 said "As far as major and minor chords go, a major chord has 3 notes between the 1st n 2nd notes and two notes between the 2nd and 3rd. A minor chord has the opposite shape- 2 and 3." after experimenting with this I believe that i was able to get some chords out of it because its sounded harmonically correct to my ears anyways. I almost always play in either f minor or f# minor
so if I was playing in f# minor to make a chord I would start with F# minor as the root note the lay on top of that would be would be A? then on top of that i would lay a C#? is this correct?

Say if im in F# minor, the chord doesnt necesarily have to have the note of F# in it does it? just as long as I stay in the key of F#? sorry for all the questions but one more haha. Should your riff start with a chord or does it matter? because obviously a chord has more feeling and energy in it than a single note so it makes sense to me that there should be a chord at the beginning of your riff to give energy as to where if the beginning was just a single note but there were chords throughout the rest of the riff it would make the beginning sound weaker than the rest of the riff. This is just whats goin through my mind right now.

Thanks for all your guys's patients. this is a hard concept for me to understand

[Zkeeto]

ok guys after a lot of reading, studying and practicing I think im starting to get it. please correct me if im wrong. ok here we go, say im in the key of f. notes 1 or 4 or 5 are the notes that i pick to BUILD a major chord around using the notes that compliment them(im still learning what notes to use that make up the chord). If I want a Minor chord, notes 2,3,6 are the notes I choose from to build a minor chord from. am i on the right track?

[drake89]

yeah you're close. the 3 chord is major in the major key. and the 7 chord is wierd, it's called diminished in major, but you can look into that on your own. chords don't have to have the root note in them. but if you want to a C chord is CEG and the sharps and flats depend on the key signature. The example in F major is correct I'm pretty sure.

[Zkeeto]

so is it just how u said earlier? that in major chords there are 3 notes between the root note and the 2nd note in the chord and 2 notes between the 2nd and 3rd note in that chord and vice versa for minor scales? cuz thats a pretty easy way to remember it if thats how i can find the chords in any scale everytime

[ambinate]

yeah you're close. the 3 chord is major in the major key. and the 7 chord is wierd, it's called diminished in major, but you can look into that on your own. chords don't have to have the root note in them. but if you want to a C chord is CEG and the sharps and flats depend on the key signature. The example in F major is correct I'm pretty sure.

the 3 chord is actually minor in major keys...a minor is the 3 chord in F major, in this case. but yeah, in a major key, starting a triad on notes 2, 3, or 6 will give you a minor chord.

[Zkeeto]

yeah you're close. the 3 chord is major in the major key. and the 7 chord is wierd, it's called diminished in major, but you can look into that on your own. chords don't have to have the root note in them. but if you want to a C chord is CEG and the sharps and flats depend on the key signature. The example in F major is correct I'm pretty sure.

the 3 chord is actually minor in major keys...a minor is the 3 chord in F major, in this case. but yeah, in a major key, starting a triad on notes 2, 3, or 6 will give you a minor chord.

but 2,3,6 are the notes used as notes to build a minor chord from right?

[baboon2525]

Very simply - triads (1-3-5) can be either minor or major, depending on how many semitones there are between the 1 and the 3. A 5th is always 7 semitones above the root note.

So:
Major chord = root +4 semitones + 7 semitones,
Minor chord = root +3 semitones + 7 semitones.

[baboon2525]

Which is why, in Massive for example, some programmed sounds have three oscillators tuned to 0, +3 and +7 semitones - they create a minor chord 'within' the sound, so that you press one note and it gives you, essentially, a minor chord.

Google ravenspiral - it's the best music theory guide on the net, and I think it starts from the basics.

[Promise One]

Which is why, in Massive for example, some programmed sounds have three oscillators tuned to 0, +3 and +7 semitones - they create a minor chord 'within' the sound, so that you press one note and it gives you, essentially, a minor chord.

Google ravenspiral - it's the best music theory guide on the net, and I think it starts from the basics.

Yes thanks for this, was trying to remember what this guide was called as I had started reading it on a USB drive which recently died so I lost it.

[drake89]

Yeah sorry I was wrong about the iii chord

[Zkeeto]

Which is why, in Massive for example, some programmed sounds have three oscillators tuned to 0, +3 and +7 semitones - they create a minor chord 'within' the sound, so that you press one note and it gives you, essentially, a minor chord.

Google ravenspiral - it's the best music theory guide on the net, and I think it starts from the basics.

cool man thanks. yeah I have the ravenspiral guide saved on my computer and have been reading it for a little whille now

[baboon2525]

np. Also in pop music keys are pretty fluid (something covered in that guide a lot), so you can get away with all sorts of things.

Basic major and minor chords will get you a long way, and throw in a 7th or two.