In an earlier guitar chord lesson, we discovered the relationship between open chords and their inversions. If you haven’t already, take a look at that page and make sure you understand what we’re discussing.
On that page, we learned that comparing a C major to an F major chord inversion is the best way to learn for most people. Why?
Because if you know the relationship between the two chords, you can anticipate which chord will be used in your melody, and thus, you’ll have a chance to create a melody that’s as beautiful as the first one!
Today, we’re going to take a look at a different way to learn distance relationships between chords. To quickly review the information so far, we’ll review the main points below.
1) Know how to play chords in the first position on the fretboard.2) Learn how to identify intervals.3) Know what relationships mean.4) Use this information to find very specific relationships between two chords.5) Knowing relationships is super helpful because you can’t see them on paper, so you’ll have a chance to practice applying them to music.
With those points in mind, let’s examine some relationships we’ve recently learned.
The relationship between the first and sixth strings on the guitar is a Major 6th interval. This means that if we play a C major in the open position, it will be a C major 6th. We can instantly recognize this interval because it has a Major 6th sound. When a chord has a Major 6th sound, it can be classified as a triad.
A triad is a major degree with a third and a fifth above the root. In this case, the Major 6th interval makes a Major chord.
A triad has a specific nature. It’s very specific. It contains within itself all minor variations because it has 3 notes, not 2.
For example, if we are to play a C major, we only play a C major chord, not a triad. We only play a C major chord because C is the root. In the same way, we don’t play D minor, we only play a triad because D is the root.
When we learn to play chords, we need to understand how to identify Major triads and minor triads.
Major triads:
One of the most important pieces of information is how to play a major chord. We can identify a major chord by its major third interval. The major third interval is the actual distance between the notes of the chord. For example, a C major chord is made up of the notes C, E, and G. The C is the root note, the E is the major third (or seventh), and G is the major third (or seventh). So, if we bang these notes together, we get a C major chord.
Minor triads:
The only difference between a major and a minor chord is the third note. In a minor chord, we limit ourselves to only playing the third-scale tone. So, if we play from C to C with the C as root, we have a C minor chord. We could then also play the D minor triad from the C.
From C to D, or C to F could be an easier play by the ear. Many people do not recognize the difference between these two types of triads. To better understand them, we should go back in time to study family constructions.
Starting with Major Triads
To understand the relationship between Major triads and minor triads, we take a look at the family constructions. Major chords are built from the 1st, 3rd, and 5th scale degrees.
For example, to build the C Major chord:
C D EFG AB – C, E, G, and B
Next, we would take the 1st, and 3rd scale degrees and put them together with the 5th degree. This gives us the notes: C, E, G#, B, and D.
C D EFG AB – C, E, G, and B with the 3rd scale degree missing
We do this repeatedly to create new Major chords by applying the major chord formula. The only exception is the 3rd scale degree in the case of the A minor chord. We take the 3rd and 6th scale degrees out and leave the 1st and 7th degrees where they are.