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Hi, the basic theory course is amazingly clear and useful. However, at this point, in the major key chords lesson using the exemple of the D major scale :
D E F# G A B C #
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
M m m M M m DiminishedI just can’t figure out why M mm MM … I understand what makes a minor chord or scale, I understand the number system, but I am not sure I get why the 2 and 3 are minor for exemple…
Care to enlighten me ?
Gilles (from France) -
Hi Giles
It’s beCause the chords in the scale can only contain notes from the parent scale. In this case D Major.
Let’s start with the one chord. D Major which is made up by stacking thirds.
D, F# and A. You will see they are all contained within the parent scale. So it’s a major chord.
Next the 2 chord E:
E is made up of E,G# and B
So let’s look at the D major scale.
Do you see? It contains E so that’s fine but AHH G not G#
We can only use notes from D major so we have to use G which gives us a flat third. This is what makes a minor chord.
The third note B is contained within the D major scale so that’s fine.
So it’s an E minor chord.
Use the same formula for the rest of the chords and try and work it out for yourself.Hope this helps
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Salut Gilles,
Jason is correct.
In standard harmony (that is to say, harmony from the Common Practice era), the harmonization of the major scale is done by stacking up thirds. Please note that this is a convention. More recent harmony theories use other intervals (e.g. fourths) instead of thirds.So, starting from the D major scale: D E F# G A B C# (D)
we build the chords on each degree by stacking up any number of thirds from the scale. In practice, this measn that you just have to take every other successive notes.
For example, starting from F# we get (F# A C#) which is an F#m triad.For a richer, more jazzy sound we can also stack up three thirds instead of two, resulting in four note chords, as follows:
D –> DM7 (D F# A C#)
E –> Em7 (E G B D)
F# –> F#m7 (F# A C# E)
G –> GM7 (G B D F#)
A –> A7 (A C# E G)
B –> Bm7 (B D F# A)
C# –> C#m7(b5) (C# E G B)Notice the last chord: C#m7(b5) is called a semi-diminished chord; the fully diminished chord is (C# E G Bb) and is not diatonic.
However, (C# E G) is called a diminished triad.
… chord naming conventions are not always consistent!Since all major scales have the same structure, they all have the same harmonization: (M m m M M m dim) or (M7 m7 m7 M7 7 m7 half dim).
Hope this helps,
Bon courage pour l’étude de la théorie de la musique!
JM -
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Hi Gilles, it is to do with the distance between the intervals that make up the triad. A triad consists of a root, some kind of 3rd, and a 5th. If the distance between the root and the 3rd is a major 3rd and the distance between the 3rd and the 5th is a minor 3rd, then the chord is major. If the intervals are the other way around, that is the distance between the root and the 3rd is a minor 3rd and from the 3rd to the 5th is a major 3rd, then the chord is minor. So a major chord is maj 3rd/min 3rd and a minor chord is min 3rd /major 3rd.
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Thank you so much for taking the time, Jason. My turn now to quietly assimilate your explanation which at first sight seems very clear, but I will need a little time and practice to digest it. I appreciate it, take care. Greetings from France.
Thank you Giles
Take your time with this sort of thing and don’t bite off too much at once. Once it clicks it’ll stay with you forever.
Cheers
Jason
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