Six Strings
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Intermediate · step 2 · Not started

Building a chord

Why does C minor sound sad? Why does G7 “want” to go to C? Because a chord is just a stack of intervals, and each interval has its own color. Goal: build any major or minor chord on a given note, and know what you’re playing in each shape.

Time
15 minutes
Before you start
Intervals
You’ll be able to
Build a chord on a given note

A stack of thirds

A chord is built by stacking thirds on top of the root (the note that gives it its name):

  • root (1);
  • third (3): major or minor, it decides whether the chord is major or minor;
  • fifth (5): it gives the chord its solidity, almost always perfect (7 half steps);
  • seventh (7), sometimes: it adds a color, bluesy or soft.

Three notes make a triad; four notes make a seventh chord.

The six chords to know

ChordFormulaOn CColor
Major (C)1, 3, 5C, E, Gbright
Minor (Cm)1, ♭3, 5C, E♭, Gdark
Seventh (C7)1, 3, 5, ♭7C, E, G, B♭bluesy, wants to move
Major 7 (Cmaj7)1, 3, 5, 7C, E, G, Bsoft, dreamy
Minor 7 (Cm7)1, ♭3, 5, ♭7C, E♭, G, B♭mellow minor
Diminished (Cdim)1, ♭3, ♭5C, E♭, G♭unstable, uneasy

A ♭ in front of a number means “one half step lower” than the major or perfect interval: ♭3 is the minor third.

Finding the notes in your shapes

Take open C. From low to high, the strings you play give: C (A string), E (D), G (open G), C (B), E (open high E). Three different notes, two of them doubled, here the root and the third: that’s normal, guitar chords double notes, most often the root or the fifth.

  • A minor: A, E, A, C, E. The minor third (C) is on the B string.
  • G7: G, B, D, G, B, F. The F, on the high E string, is the minor seventh: it’s what makes you want to go to C.

Exercise: do the same analysis for D, E minor and Fmaj7. For each string, name the note and say whether it’s the 1, 3, 5 or 7.

Major or minor: just one note changes

Between a major chord and the minor chord with the same name, only the third changes, by one fret. Play E, then E minor: only your index finger moves, on the G string (G# becomes G). Do the same with A and A minor (B string), D and D minor (high E string).

The diminished chord

Two minor thirds stacked up: B, D, F. It sounds unstable and is mostly used as a passing chord. You’ll meet it again in the next lesson, on the 7th degree of the scale.

e|-----------|
B|-------3-3-|
G|-----4---4-|
D|---3-----3-|
A|-2-------2-|
E|-----------|

Building on any note

  1. Put down the root on the low E string or the A string.
  2. Add the third (one string up, one fret lower for the major, two for the minor).
  3. Add the fifth (one string up from the root, two frets higher).

The third and the fifth fall on the same string: play the three notes one after the other, like an arpeggio. Do it on D, F and G, in major then in minor. Then check with your barre chord shapes: you should find the same notes.

You’ve got it when…