How Chords Are Formed

Basic chords

A chord is composed of two or more notes. A chord can be played in unison, with all of the notes played at once, or it can be played one note at a time, which is called a broken chord. A three-note chord is a triad, which is the most common chord form and the basis for many more complex chords.

Chord Construction

When building a chord, start at the root note of the chord. The root is often the first note in the scale of the key of the music. The key is the tonic, or root note, of the scale in which the major notes of the piece are played. For instance, if much of the piece is in the A minor scale, then the key will be A minor. Use the scale structure noted in the key signature to base your chord structure on the scale of the song. While it is acceptable to occasionally use notes outside the noted key signature, they are generally used as accents, and most of the song should still be in the noted key signature scale.

Building Up

After choosing your chord's root note, you can build the rest of your chord. A chord can have as many notes as you can fit on the page, but most of the time, chords have fewer than six notes; most have four or fewer notes. For a minor sound, top the root with a minor third. For a more complex sound, add a fifth or minor seventh interval. An interval is the distance between two notes. If you use an interval smaller than a third in a chord, it will produce a dissonant sound, which is a sound that appears to be clashing or inharmonious. Dissonance is frequently used in jazz and heavy metal rock music (see References).

Broken Chords

To create a broken chord, play the chord one note at a time. A broken chord is often called an arpeggio. Soloists often arpeggiate the chords of the notated key signature when performing an improvisational solo.

References

• Information on Intervals
• Music Definitions