Intro to Chords

Before we get into the structure and complexity of a chord, first we must know: what is a chord? A chord is defined as “a music unit consisting of more than one note being played at the same time” (Carter 89). That doesn’t sound that bad right? That’s because it’s not! Chords are simple in nature once you understand how chords fit into scales. Going back to my previous post, chords are made of notes taken from certain scales and are really related. In one way they are related because both are made using certain spaces called intervals (Carter 90). A major 7^th, for example, is the root note, M3, P5, and M7. For the C scale, that would be C, E, G, and B. Most songs use fairly simple chords such as C, Em, G, and A. There are some cases, though, that use more complex chords (mostly with jazz music) such as a major 13^th flat 9 chord.

Even When It Hurts by Hillsong (only using the instrumental)

In the beginning, I’m only using the chords of the song, but then after going through the chords once, I demonstrated how to take chords to a more complex level. I found a pattern to use and repeated with each of the chords. The chord and the notes within the chord is what I based the pattern on.

https://youtu.be/e_JDNtRYlAo

What is more important to being a well-rounded musician: chords or scales?

Carter, Nicolas. Master the Chords. Music Theory From Absolute Beginner to Expert. N.p.: Nicolas Carter, 2016. 89-90. Print.

Scales


Scales, while all being with different notes and different tones, all have the same basic structure. The starting note, or what is called the root note, is almost always the lowest note you play in the scale. This is also the name of the scale. For example, if the root note (the lowest note) is a C, then the scale is a C scale (Carter 82). Every note in a scale has a specific name. I will be using a C scale for all of my examples because it is simple. The root note is a C, the note after is called a major 2nd (D), then major 3rd (E), perfect 4th (F), perfect 5th (G), major 6th (A), and then the last note is the major 7th (B). Musicians also measure the distance of pitch between the notes. These can be marked as whole or half notes but more commonly, tone and semitone. "The root note is the first thing that the name of a chord lists" (Carter 82). In the past quote and paraphrase, I used both scale and chord. Scales and chords are very connected, as I will demonstrate in later postings. Going off of my example with the C scale, if I play a C chord, the notes I use for the chord are the same notes that are in the scale. A typical C chord consists of C, E, and G, which are all in the C scale (explained better later).


This video demonstrates the C scale throughout three different octaves. It shows how each octave of the scale can be built off of the previous one. (P.S. it's supposed to be "scales" not "chords" I'm just really bad with technology and don't know how to fix it).

https://youtu.be/LIuWyq-usq0

Do you think learning scales is imperative to having a good foundation for music?


Carter, Nicolas. Root Notes Explained. Music Theory From Absolute Beginner to Expert. N.p.: Nicolas Carter, 2016. 82. Print.