Learn to Play the Guitar Part 10

What is a “chord”, anyway? What is a “note”?

A note is a single tone sound or frequency. A chord is a combination of three notes played together at once. Not all instruments can play chords. The trumpet or flute can only play single tones, for example. I would wager the majority of instruments fall into that category. Stringed instruments like the guitar allow one to play polyphonic (multinote) sounds.

Can any three notes played together make a chord?

Technically, yes. However, there are two most acceptable scales in western music that are the basis of the chords that are most often played in modern and classical western music. These two scales have been labeled “major” and “minor”.

The chords we have learned thus far are “major” chords. These chords evoke a bright, happy mood. Coming up, we will be learning the “minor” versions of these chords. The “minor scale evokes more of a somber and sad mood, generally speaking. This, of course, is not always the case and chord progressions that have both major and minor chords can evoke all sorts of moods.

Typically, a chord is made up of the 1st, 3rd and 5th note of the scale. So, the “C” major chord consists of C (1st), E (3rd) and G (5th). The Minor version of the chord has the same 1st and 5th note but move a half step down for the 3rd. So, the “C” minor chord consists of C, E♭ (E flat) and G.

What is a “flat”?

Flats and sharps are ways of expressing the movement from one note’s position up or down a half step. A whole step is moving up or down by two notes from where you start. Thus, a half step is moving one note up or down from where you start. So, the difference between a C major chord and a C minor chord is that the 3rd note in the scale that is used in the chord has moved a half step down. E becomes E♭.

There are other things one can add to a chord to augment it from your basic major and minor chord. For now, let’s move on to learning all the minor chord variations of the 7 chords we just learned.