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Intervals are the relationship between two notes. Chords are at least three notes ringing out together. Moving from chord to chord is where music gets deeply interesting.
The modern understanding of chords unlock a higher abstraction for music theory.
Chords make the difference between Classical Theory and Jazz Theory.
Fact Check: Grok3 argues that Beethoven did understand chords. I’m not totally convinced, but it made a decent argument.
Instead of selecting three random notes from the 12 available, we'll constrain our options.
First, constrain to within a scale: only notes from A minor Scale
Second, constrain options by building in Triads
Build three-note chords using thirds (either m3 or M3 intervals)
Within a scale, like the minor scale, this simply means skipping every other note
Example from The One chord of A minor Scale:
grab the Root, skip the 2, grab the m3, skip the P4, grab the P5
R m3 P5 is the first triad
If we play this out for all possible triads of the A minor Scale, we get:
| Chord Name | Notes in Chord | Chord Quality |
| The One | R - m3 - P5 | minor = m3 + M3 |
| The Two | 2 - P4 - m6 | diminished = m3 + m3 |
| The Three | m3 - P5 - m7 | Major = M3 + m3 |
| The Four | P4 - m6 - Oct | minor |
| The Five | P5 - m7 - 2 | minor |
| The Six | m6 - Oct - m3 | Major |
| The Seven | m7 - 2 - P4 | Major |
(Augmented = M3 + M3 not seen here)
Be patient: You'll be able to mentally blow through these lessons, but physically your muscles will take time to catch up. (~90 days)
In the meantime, noodle around with the ideas to turn your propositional knowledge into participatory knowledge.
Build strength for: speed, accuracy, and endurance
An arrangement of all 12-notes: Clockwise (P5), Counter-clockwise (P4). We can play around with the Circle of Fifths to discover chords that sound good together.
Modern music is in the moving from one chord to another. We call the changing of chords a Chord Progression. Ex: 1-4-5 or 1-2-5
Read this as “The One, The Four, The Five” and “The One, The Two, The Five”
The chords a - b dim - C - d - e - F - G naturally come out of the A minor Scale. But nothing stops you from substituting out other chords for new and interesting effects. We played around with subbing b dim with B, and e with E. When we talk about Tension and Release, you will learn a way to make smart choices in substitutions. (and a lot more!)