Chord types
Triads, four-note chords, five-note chords and alterations are the main categories of chords.
Triads
A triad is a chord consisting of three notes. There are four main types of triads:
- Major (root, major 3rd and perfect 5th)
- Minor (root, minor 3rd and perfect 5th)
- Augmented (root, major 3rd and augmented 5th)
- Diminished (root, minor 3rd and diminished 5th).
"Root" refers to the first note and the rest are terms for describing the intervals in a scale (the relationship between scales and chords is important to understand). You will better understand this by looking at the chord diagrams presented together with the theoretical descriptions that could be found on this site (below is an example with marked intervals).
C Major with root, major 3rd and perfect 5th.
Four-note chords
These are the three most common types of four-note chords:
- Major 7th (root, major 3rd, perfect 5th and major 7th)
- Minor 7th (root, minor 3rd, perfect 5th and minor 7th)
- Dominant 7th (root, major 3rd, perfect 5th and minor 7th).
Once again, the terms refer to different intervals. These chords are often named from the last part, which is the seventh note above the root in the actual scale.
Cmaj7 with root, major 3rd, perfect 5th and major 7th.
Five-note chords
These are the three most common types of five-note chords:
- Major 9th (root, major 3rd, perfect 5th, major 7th and major 9th)
- Minor 9th (root, minor 3rd, perfect 5th, minor 7th and major 9th)
- Dominant 9th (root, major 3rd, perfect 5th, minor 7th and major 9th).
Notice the pattern with an added third stacked above the seventh interval.
Cmaj9 with root, major 3rd, perfect 5th, major 7th and major 9th.
The five-note chords are not as common as the other two categories, even less common are ...
Six- and seven-note chords
In this category we find the eleventh and thirteenth chords:
- Dominant 11th (root, major 3rd, perfect 5th, minor 7th, major 9th and major 11th)
- Major 13th (root, major 3rd, perfect 5th, major 7th, major 9th, major 11th and major 13th)
- Dominant 13th (root, major 3rd, perfect 5th, minor 7th, major 9th, major 11th and major 13th).
Six- and seven-note chords are often played as polychords, meaning that they are divided into two smaller ones for each hand to play.
Alterations
There are also alterations, which means that one note is lowered or raised one step. Here are two examples:
- Major 7th(b5) (root, major 3rd, diminished 5th and major 7th)
- Major 7th(#5) (root, major 3rd, augmented 5th and major 7th)
In the two examples the fifth is either lowered (diminished) or raised (augmented).
See also Build chords using half steps ›