How to Play Guitar Chords and Melodies

A chord is a group of at least 3 notes played simultaneously. The first chords in Western music were the perfect harmony formed by the first, fourth, fifth and eighth notes in the diatonic scale in the Middle Ages. Major and minor triads became increasingly common in the 15th and 16th centuries. The following steps will show how to play guitar chords and melodies.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. Define an octave as the difference in pitch between two tones where the frequency of one tone is twice that of the other. Western music divides the octave into 12 evenly spaced notes known as the chromatic scale.

2. Construct the diatonic scale using the following notes from the chromatic scale: 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10 and 12. Note that the diatonic scale has seven notes in each octave with the following intervals 2, 2, 1, 2, 2 and 2 where these numbers represent the number of tones separating successive notes.

3. Observe the major and minor triads that form the basis of most guitar chords today. The major triad is the first, third and fifth note of the diatonic scale while the minor triad is the first, flatted third and fifth notes of this scale.

4. Add a note that forms a seventh interval above the chord's root. This addition forms the seventh chords that are so prevalent in jazz music today.

5. Use chords to support the melody of a song. The simplest melody is a sequence of individual notes within a scale, called the song's key.

Resources

• Learn more about guitar chords at All-guitar-chords.