Forming b5 (Flat 5) Chords

Video Transcript

"Here we'll discuss a type of chord called a flat five chord, and we'll also talk about notating that chord, and the previous chords we've discussed. First, the flat five chord. These chords are all known as triads because they involve only three notes. We obviously haven't gotten to the 7, so when you're just using 1, 3, and 5, or a combination of three notes, you're going to call it a triad. Now, a flat five chord just means you have a 1, the third note of the major scale, and the fifth note lowered by a half step. So, if we take a look at the keyboard here, we've got a 1, 3, and a 5 of a C major scale. A flat five chord would just be lowering that fifth note. Now, as far as notating these chords, a major chord; we're talking about C here; if you were going to write that down, you would write the letter name of the type of chord you're using, and for major you would leave it blank; just a C implies C major. Now, if you were going to write a minor chord, you'd have to tell the reader that it's minor. You could do that by putting a little m next to the minor there; right next to the C, or you could put a little hyphen right above the C, that would also mean minor. Now, for diminished, instead of putting a hyphen here, you could put a little degrees sign; that means diminished, or you could write dim next to the letter named for the chord. And for flat 5, you would just write up here flat five."