Building Chords

Prerequisite
C major scale Each note name has a reference number.
Clock representation of the C major scale. Note the numbers of the second pass once back to the start. Second pass first number is 8. Ref. Modular Arithmetic (in this case 'modulo 7')


Clock representation of the C chromatic scale based on sharps only. A sharp appears next to each number as well to get an accurate location reference.
Clock representation of the C chromatic scale based on flats only. Note that a flat also appears next to each number.

Now we are ready to build up chords!
Let's start with triads that are chords made of 3 different notes
Let's build a C chord Choose the note C skip D choose E skip F choose G. So, by taking 1-3-5 from any required note we obtain the chord named after that note. as seen in the next example.
Let's build a G chord Now 1-3-5 gives G-B-D respectively..
Now we need to know what type of chords they are. The main types of triads we'll focus on are: Major triads, 1-3-5 Minor triads, 1-b3-5 Diminished triads, 1-b3-b5
The distance between notes is measured in steps.

Best is to use the chromatic scale. Applying 1-b3-5 to the wheel from G gives G-Bb-D respectively. Hence we have a G minor
Applying 1-b3-b5 to the wheel from G gives G-Bb-Db respectively. Hence we have a G diminished
A major. 1-3-5 Below the distance is correct but the note choice is wrong. To skip one note name only, not two as it is the case in this example. So, use the chromatic scale based on sharps, not flats.	A major. 1-3-5 Below we have the correct note choices thanks to the chromatic scale based on sharps.

Now you can apply all these triads on the guitar by clicking on the link below.

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