Chords

Triad

We have seen before how the intervals may be created by dividing the string. By putting the finger at:

• 1/2 string Octave
• 1/3 string: fifth
• 1/4 string fourth
• 1/5 string: major third
• 1/6 string: minor third

We will now leave the discussion around just intonation and acknowledge the fact that if you want to play modern music and use chords, the tempered scale is a really good compromise.

The fact that the tempered third is a little untuned with relation to the epimoric ((n+1)/n=5/4) third, may actually be an advantage. The hovering produced will make the third sound more interesting and fresh according to some people For the same reason the fifth is often omitted when playing a chord. It is considered to be too dull.

According to modern western theory Chords are built by stacking thirds.

Major chords start with a major third. Minor chords start with a minor third.

The most common chords are: The Tonic, which is based on the root note. The subdominant, based on the fourth, and the dominant based on the fifth.

Major Chords

The chords of a major scale

Modern chord definition

A more practical way of remembering the chords is by defining them according to their position in the scale. I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII (using roman numbers)
The names now reflect the position according to the tonic. The mediant is the third above, the submediant is the third below. The dominant is the fifth above, and the sub dominant is the fifth below. The supertonic is a note above the tonic, and the subtonic is the note below the tonic.

The chords of the minor scale

Minor scales are complicated because there are three different minor scales-.

The +-chord orAug-akkord. is used for the chord on the mediant. The super tonic will sometimes get the half diminished chord)