Easy Chord Theory - Triads and Intervals

so what is a chord it's a group of notes played together at the same time technically a chord has to have three notes in it to be considered a real chord but a chord can also have a ton of notes in it in fact a chord can even have all 12 notes in it does that sound good no but my point is that chords can have way more than just three notes in them a chord has two parts to it the first half is called the root it's the note that the chord is built from the second half is called the chord quality this tells us all the information about what type of chord it is just to quickly make sure we know the difference between the two parts i'm going to write out some random chord names okay let's draw a line between the root and the chord quality for each of these chords just to make sure we know which is which so to determine what the root is we're just going to look at the very first note in the chord and if there's any sharp or flat attached to it that's also part of the note so for instance in this first chord this f sharp minor seven flat five the f sharp is the root i'm gonna draw a line like that and then the minor seven flat five is the chord quality how about this d minor d is the root and minor is the chord quality okay what about d flat minor these are two different symbols for minor lowercase m or or minus sign like that what is the root note here it's the d flat so b flat half diminished this is a half diminished sign the b flat is the root and the half diminished is the chord quality what about for e7 sharp five just the e is the root note the seven sharp five is the chord quality what about for c 13 the root is c okay what about for e flat major 9 the root is e flat by the way a triangle means major what about for g major 7 sharp 11 g is our root note what about for a6 add 4 what's the root the root is just a for f the root is just f and whenever you see a letter just written by itself um as a chord it's assumed that it's a major chord so the chord is f major so the chord quality is major the root is f for a flat major 7 what is the root it's a flat right what about for b flat says 4 b flat is the root and sus4 is the chord quality so as you can see you just look for the first note and if there's a little sharper flat right next to it and that's the root note and then everything else even if there's a sharp or a flat later on is part of the chord quality now in this video we're going to just focus on a very specific type of chord called a triad which as you might have guessed from the word triad only has three notes in it now later on i will be making much more advanced videos about chord theory um and covering all types of topics related to chords um and as i create them i will add them as links in the into the description of this video so come back and check later to see if there's any new content down there also if you haven't subscribed to my channel yet please do i post one video a week and i'd love to have you on board there are four main types of triads major minor diminished and augmented chords have what i like to think of as simple little formulas which i've written out right here so let's pretend that i want to figure out what the notes are in a c major chord a c minor chord a c diminished chord and a c augmented chord and let's use these simple little formulas to figure it out okay so to know what notes are in these chords we need to first look at the root note and think of the major scale of that note so what's the root note of a c major chord a c minor chord a c diminished chord and a c augmented chord it's a c of course so let's write out a c major scale now let's think of the scale as numbers so i'm going to give each one of these notes a number so now we go back to the formulas and we're just going to plug the numbers into the formulas for instance a c major chord is made up of one three and five so if we go to our c major scale what is the first third and fifth note of the scale c e and g therefore our c major chord has a c an e and a g in it so i'm going to write c e and g that's our c major chord okay what about a c minor chord we have a one a flat three and a five so we have what's the one gonna be one is gonna be our c right then what about the flat three well the three is an e so it's gonna be an e flat because we're just gonna take that third note and flatten it so c e flat and g pretty easy okay what about a c diminished chord we have a one a flat three and a flat five so what's our one our one is c right so c we know that one then a flat 3 is going to be an e flat and then what about a flat 5 well the 5 is a g so we're going to flatten that so it'll be g flat and what about our c augmented chord one three and sharp five so we have a one for the c right for the three we just have a normal three so it's an e and then we have a sharp five so we're going to take the fifth degree and sharpen it so that it's going to become a g sharp g sharp make sense if you think about these words diminished and augmented diminish means to make something smaller right so in our diminished chord we have a one and a flat five and a flat three so we flatten two of the notes in that chord um so it's making we're making the notes smaller and closer together and with the augmented chord to augment is to make something bigger right so with our sharp five we're making it uh we're taking these notes and making them further apart from each other we're making it bigger so augment okay it's pretty simple to figure this out in the key of c but let's try some keys that are a little bit trickier and have some sharps and flats in them okay so we're going to try with a different root note now so let's say we want to figure out an e major e minor e diminished and e augmented chord so we're going to look at the root note of those chords which is e and we're going to first think about our e major scale so i'm gonna write that out and we're gonna number it so first what are the notes in an e major chord so i know the major chord is a one three and a five right so what are our one three and five in the key of e major well the one is e right the three is a g sharp and the five is a b so those three notes when you play e g sharp and b together you're playing an e major chord e g sharp and b now what about an e minor chord so for a minor chord we have a one a flat three and a five so what's the one the one is the e i can write that in now what about a flat three so what's the third degree the third degree is g sharp so if i flatten a g sharp what does it become well to flatten any note we just move it down one half step so if i have a g sharp note and i move it down one half step it just becomes a g so a flat three is going to be not a g sharp but just a regular g and what about the fifth degree the fifth degree is just b now just as a side note that flat three of the minor chord is what makes it a minor chord so actually that third degree is very important because it tells us if the chord is major or minor you might have heard of a suspended chord before well in a sus 2 and a sus 4 chord we actually take the three out of the chord and we replace it with either the second degree or the fourth degree if it's a sus 2 chord we replace the third with the second degree and if it's a sus4 chord we we replace it with the fourth degree and when we do that when we remove the three and replace it with either the four or the two we no longer can tell if the chord is major or minor anyway that was a side note i'll get into suspended chords more later in another video back to these triads so what about an e diminished chord we have a one right so the one is e what about the flat three it's the same as in the minor chord the flat 3 is going to be just a regular g right and then we have a flat 5. so we're going to take that 5th degree that b and we're going to turn it into a b flat so b flat so these are the notes in our e diminished chord now what about an e augmented chord so we have a one so e is the one right we have a normal three not a flat three but a normal three so that's just going to be g sharp and what about our sharp five we're going to take this b and we're going to sharpen it so we're going to get a b sharp now some of you might be saying whoa i thought there was no such thing as a b sharp and so my teacher told me you know on the piano there's no note between b and c so there isn't a b sharp and yes it's true there is no unique separate pitch that is uh wholly dedicated to being a b sharp note however we can sharpen and flatten any note so we can refer to a note as a b sharp but really when we say b sharp we're playing a c note since there's no note between b and c and if we sharpen that b it just goes to c you can even sharpen an already sharp note and then we have a double sharp note you can also flatten an already flat note and have a double flat note so don't get too bogged down in these rules right now but basically uh yes you can have a b sharp um it's not wrong okay let's do another example let's say i want to find an f sharp major chord f sharp minor chord f sharp diminished chord and an f sharp augmented chord so first what's our f sharp major scale so this is our f sharp major scale just like when we were talking about that b sharp some of you might also be looking at this e sharp and saying wait i thought there was no e sharp i thought there's no note between e and f it's true there is no different note between e and f but e sharp is technically an f note it's called an inharmonic equivalent actually when you have just one note but multiple names for the same note so e sharp and f are inharmonic equivalents so you can refer to as an f as an f or you can refer to an f as an e sharp and since we're in the key of f sharp we technically are referring to it as an e sharp again don't worry about these details too much right now but that's that's what's happening so let me number real quick okay what are the notes in my f sharp major triad i have a one three and a five so that's f sharp a sharp and c sharp what about in an f sharp minor chord so i have a one a flat three and a five so what's the one the one is f sharp now what is the flat three so i'm going to find my third which is a sharp and i'm going to flatten it so what does that become if i flatten an a sharp it just becomes a regular a so it's f sharp a and then what about the fifth degree the fifth degree is c sharp so c sharp so f sharp a and c sharp is an f sharp minor triad okay what about an f sharp diminished chord we have our one right so that's just an f sharp now we have a flat three so what's our flat three so it's an a right just a normal old a just like the minor chord and a flat five what's our flat five well the fifth degree is c sharp and if we flatten this t sharp what does it become becomes a c cool so that's your f sharp diminished chord is an f sharp an a and a c now what about an f sharp augmented chord we have the one which is f sharp right we have the three which is a sharp okay now this one's going to be interesting so we need a sharp five and our fifth degree is a c sharp so how can we sharp a c sharp well we're actually going to write c double sharp now when you see the double sharp note written on staff paper you're going to see a little x symbol written right in front of the note now what's the inharmonic equivalent for c double sharp like what other note is that well if you think about it what's so if we're on c sharp and we move up a half step just a d note actually so a c double sharp is the same as the note d however we're referring to it as a c double sharp to uh stay true to the key we're in let's do another one okay let's do a flat key now how about a flat so let's say i want to find a flat major a flat minor a flat diminished and a flat augmented chords so first i'm going to write out my a flat major scale so here's our a flat major scale a flat b flat c d flat e flat f g hey quick side note have you ever noticed that in an a flat major scale the three notes that aren't flattened are c f and g but then in an a major scale not an a flat major scale but in a major scale the c the f and the g are the only notes that are sharpened pretty cool there's so many fun little patterns like that sprinkled in throughout all the other major scales too okay so what is our a flat major chord what's the one the one is going to be an a flat right oh no my marker is dying i need to buy more this is my only one what's the third degree c right and what's the fifth degree the fifth degree is e flat nice and simple now what about our a flat minor triad so we have a one a flat three and a five so what's our one our one is a flat okay our flat third is a c flat and what's our five our five is just e flat now here's c flat that's another one of these notes where you might say hey i didn't think there was a c flat because there's no note between b and c well a c flat is really just a b note it's an n harmonic equivalent of b so when you say c flat it's really a b no you're but we're calling it a c flat now what about our a flat diminished chord so the one is going to be a flat what's our flat three is going to be a c flat again now our flat five this will be an interesting one again so what's our five our five is e flat so if we flatten e flat what happens to it becomes an e double flat i picked crazy keys so that we could see these kind of things now what's the n harmonic equivalent of e double flat so what is the pitch we're hearing when we play an e double flat well let's think about it so we e flat and then we move down another half step and it becomes a d so e double flat is the same note as a d but we're calling it e double flat and last but not least let's figure out our a flat augmented chord so we have a one is a flat right what's the three the three is c right just a normal c because it's not a flat three and then a sharp five so e flat if we sharpen e flat what does it become so it was an e flat and we move it up a half step it just turns into a regular e make sense hopefully and quick side note when you see this double flat symbol on staff paper um written out with music notation you're gonna it looks like two little flat symbols written in front of the note cool so i think you get the idea most of the keys don't have these double flats and double sharps i specifically chose them to show as an example for you so that you could see kind of the most confusing stuff but i don't need to go through every key with you because in this video would be an hour long but i do want to quickly talk about the intervals in these types of four triads okay so an interval is just the distance between two notes and we measure this distance in either half steps or whole steps now a half step is the very smallest interval we have so a half step would be from c to c sharp that's a half step or from c sharp to d that's a half step so if i were to just move up and play every single note on the keyboard i would be moving up in half steps now if i were playing it on a ukulele or guitar if i wanted to move up in half steps i could just move up one fret so when you move up one fret you're moving a half step now a whole step as you might have guessed is just two half steps so between c and d is a whole step because i have two half steps right from us here to here is a half step and from here to here is a half step so from c to d right here is a whole step what about from d to e is that a whole step or a half step that's a whole step what about from e to f is that a whole step or a half step that is only a half step see how there's no note in between them we're just moving up one half step now what about from e to g is that a whole step or a half step that's a whole step what about from g to g sharp that's a half step you get the idea now in a major triad like let's say c major right so c e and g we have the one three and five here c e and g now the distance between the one and the three is what we call a major third okay so we have a major third and then the distance between the three and the five the e and the g is a minor third so we have a major third and then a minor third now in a minor triad so c e flat and g is our minor triad right distance between the one and the flat three so the c and the e flat is a is a minor third so we have a minor third on the bottom and then the distance between the flat three and the five between that flat three and the five that e flat in that g is a major third and the overall distance between them that's what we call perfect fifth and the distance between these is also a perfect fifth so what i mean by that is in my c major chord so the c and the g so the one and the five if we measure that distance it's called a perfect fifth so this distance is a major third this is a minor third the whole thing is a perfect fifth from one to five now a major third interval is four half steps and a minor third interval is three half steps and a perfect fifth interval is seven half steps you could also think of that seven half steps as three whole steps and one half step so here's my major third interval right i'm moving up one two three four it's four half steps and for to get from my e to my g i said that's a minor third right so one two three it's only three half steps up and then my perfect fifth from c to g one two three four five six seven it's seven half steps make sense now what i'm showing you these intervals these intervals are the same no matter what key you're in or what root note you're playing a major chord is always going to be a major third interval and then a minor third interval so if i wanted to play um an a flat major triad right now let's say i don't know what my a flat major scale is and i'm trying to figure out what the third is in an a flat major chord well i can think of the interval and i know that it's four half steps up so one two three four so c is going to be the third the third degree and then i need to move up three half steps from there to get to my fifth so one two three so e flat is gonna be the fifth so i know my a flat major triad is going to be a flat c and e flat like that so this is another way to find the notes in a chord if you don't actually know what your scales are you could just start with the root note and figure out based on the intervals okay i know i need to move up four half steps and then three half steps or three half steps and then four half steps uh to create my chord now a diminished triad has we have do you think it's a minor third on the from this one to this flat three or a major third remember i said that a flat three is a minor chord right so if there's one thing you can remember from today's lesson it's that flat three is minor so this is going to be a minor third from what the one to the flat three so c e flat that's a minor third just the same way as our in our minor triad right so we start with a minor third and then what about from this flat three to this flat five what is that is that a minor third interval or a major third interval let's count it and figure it out so i know that my c diminished chord is a c e flat and a g flat okay so i need to figure out if this distance between the e flat and the g flat is a major third or a minor third so starting on e flat i'm going to count how many half steps it is so one two three it's only three half steps up three half steps is a minor third remember because four half steps is a major third so i know this is going to be a minor third so a diminished chord is like two minor thirds stacked on top of each other now the overall distance of this is not actually a perfect fifth because a perfect fifth would be c to g right and we're going c to g flat so this is called a diminished fifth actually it's uh the tritone not too hard to remember that it's a diminished fifth for a diminished chord right now a diminished fifth interval has three whole steps or six half steps i'll show you so remember it's c to g flat as a diminished fifth right so let's count it one two three four five six six half steps which is also the same as three whole steps the last one we're looking at is our augmented triad so with our augmented triad from this one to the three is that like from c to e is that a major third or a minor third let's count it right one two three four it's four half steps so is four half steps a major third or a minor third interval it's a major third interval so i have a major third and then on top of that from the e to the g sharp right because it's a sharp five what is that distance let's let's figure it out is that we have one two three four four half steps what is that four half steps is another major third so we have two major thirds stacked on top of each other so you can really think of these triads as just two intervals of thirds stacked on top of each other right now the overall distance between the one and the sharp five in an augmented triad that is called an augmented fifth and how many half steps or whole steps is in an augmented fifth well let's count it so we're starting on c one two three four five six seven eight eight half steps which is also four whole steps so four whole steps in our augmented fifth interval okay and i think that just about does it for this lesson um i will be as i said posting more videos about chord theory that uh get more advanced hopefully you understood everything in this video if you didn't just let me know in the comments or if you just want to say hey please don't forget to give this video a thumbs up if you liked it and please don't forget to subscribe if you also enjoyed it um i post a video every week so stay tuned for more content thank you guys so much for watching and have a wonderful rest of your day

Channel: Gracie Terzian

Views: 68,338

Rating: 4.9776134 out of 5

Keywords: ukulele, ukelele, gracie terzian, learn ukulele, beginner, uke, music, lesson, free, tabs, chart, music theory, easy theory, triads, chord theory, music 101, 101, intervals, root, what is the root, chord quality, what's in a chord, complex chords, complicated chords, harp ukulele, guitar, piano, major scales, circle of fifths, circle of fourths, circle of 5ths, learn music theory, free lesson

Id: VswUA38pFxc

Length: 23min 49sec (1429 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 31 2021