Joined: 11 Jan 2011 Netherlands Lessons: 10 Karma

Types of chords by E.Koreman 24 Jan 2011 Views: 43256

Major 3rd         1 -  3 -  5

Minor 3rd         1 - b3 -  5

Augmented         1 -  3 - #5

Diminished        1 - b3 - b5

Sus2              1 -  2 -  5

Sus4              1 -  4 -  5

Major 7th         1 -  3 -  5 -    7

(minor)7th        1 -  3 -  5 -   b7

Dim7              1 - b3 -  5 -  bb7

9th               1 -  3 -  5 -   b7 - 9

11th              1 -  3 -  5 -   b7 - 9 - 11

13th              1 -  3 -  5 -   b7 - 9 - 11 - 13

15th              1 -  3 -  5 -   b7 - 9 - 11 - 13 - 15

(5)               1 -       5

(8)               1 -                8

And you may raise/lower notes, omit notes and add notes. What you do is a matter of music logic and your choice. Every note in a chord is root for another chord, so i.e. C major is an E chord and G chord as well. The notes C E G may even belong to a chord where the root and other notes are omitted. C major is a chord in any key, but only C major for root C.

Try to understand how chords are built and you'll understand every possible chord. What you decide for root is key. Then: is there a 2nd, 3rd, 4th and so on. And are those notes then perfect, major, minor, augmented, diminished, sustained? This is chord logic.

See the quick'n'dirty tutorial about chords under 'beginners'. Our depiction of chords is just for convenience. In music a chord can have multitudes of meanings since any note is root or minor 3rd or diminished 5th or anything else to some other note.