Welcome back, we are getting into the core in this lesson: Chords.

• Interval
• Distance and Quality of an interval
• Notion of a chord

• Triad: the most important type of chords

Let me introduce the concept of Intervals.

Scale practices are extremely important for beginners. Scales contain patterns on which the tonal music is built. By practicing these patterns in the form of scales, the performer becomes musically acquainted with material that will appear exactly in the composition itself.

But what, exactly, are these patterns contained in scales? They are interval patterns. The interval patterns of scales become the interval patterns of melody and harmony. Well, well, what melody and harmony? As we already know from the study of diatonic scales that the interval us the musical distance between two pitches. If these pitches are sounded simultaneously, the interval is called a harmonic interval. If the two pitches are sounded in succession, like two tones of a melody, the interval is called a melodic interval. For e.g, if you play the notes C and D together (at the same time) , that would be a harmony. If you play C and D successively, that would be a melody. In either case, it is the distance between the two pitches that is identified and measured.

Two factors are considered in identifying intervals: distance and quality.

Please note that the interval distance we are discussing is different from the absolute distance we discussed above. i.e, In C major scale, the number of steps between C and D is 1/2 + 1/2 step (C to C# and C# to D) = one whole step. But the intervals we are discussing is with respect to the scale. We measure the distance in terms of the notes between the two given notes. Let us take an analogy here to understand the difference. Let us say, we are travelling from Chennai to Madurai by Vaigai express train . The train travels through number of stops.

• Chennai, Villupuram, Vridhachallam, Trichy, Madurai

I could make the following statements:-

• Trichy is the fourth stop from Chennai. same as F is in the interval of four from C
• Trichy is the third stop from Villupuram. same as F is in the interval of three from D
• Trichy is the second stop from Vridhachallam. same as F is in the interval of two from E

I could also make the following statements.( Please do not pick on me if the distances I mentioned are not right in terms of km)

• Trichy is 300 km from Chennai. same as F is two and half steps from C
• Trichy is 200 km from Villupuram. same as F is one and half steps from D
• Trichy is 100 km from Vridhachallam. same as F is half step from E

Understanding interval is an most important step towards understanding chords. As you can see, intervals make sense only within the defined context. The context is defined by the scale we are dealing with. Some of the people who have already heard about chords like D maj 7th, D 7th might have some thoughts popping up, as they read.

Let us do some exercise to get this clear. In the scale of F major,

• The fifth from F is C.
• The ninth from F is G ( higher octave)
• The seventh from Bb is A ( higher octave)
• The seventh from D is C.

Please do your own exercise for all the scales.

The important factor to remember is that the interval between the letters are fixed irrespective of the scales. i.e, B is always 4th from F. B could Bb (F major scale) or B (C major scale). F is always at the interval of four from C. F could be F# (in the scale of G) or F could be F itself (in the scale of C).

The second way to recognize an interval is to identify the sound quality or color of the interval. The sound quality is related to the number of half steps between the two pitches. In the following examples, all the four intervals are thirds. But play these combinations on the piano or sing them (?) and you will find that each has a distinctly different quality.

• A and C 1 1/2 steps
• A and C# 2 steps
• Ab and C# 2 1/2 steps
• A# and C 1 step

I would like to skip more details on the quality and jump to chords. We will bring up the quality as and when required.

Well, finally we are into the main section. The scale on which a particular piece of music is based determines the interval patterns of that music, both melodically and harmonically. Melody, as written out, is the main horizontal component of music. Harmony, when notated, is the primary vertical element of music. The major component of harmony is chord, which consists of three or more pitches sounding simultaneously. Harmony itself is the horizontal movement of various chords. Woo! Did you get that?

Now let us start with the fundamental chord of tonal music - the triad.

The triad is the basic chord of tonal music. Other chords - such as sevenths, ninths and elevenths- are extensions of the triad.

Triads are three-note chords constructed of two superimposed thirds. What does it mean? What is a third? Well, if you recall, two notes with interval of a third. And the definition says, superimposed thirds. Let us take two notes with a third interval in the key of G starting from G. That would be G and B. Now take another third starting from B and superimpose. B and D form a third. Now combine them. That would be G B D. That is it. We have formed a chord (triad). If you play all the three notes together, you did play a chord. If you count from G as 1, B would be 3 and D would be 5. That is the fundamental definition of a triad. From a given note, if you include the 3rd and 5th note from a given scale you played a triad. Let us take another example with C. That would be C E G.

Also notice that the third of the triad is an interval of a third from the given note (called the root of the chord), and the fifth is an interval of fifth above the root. In this example C is the root. The above triad formed with C E G is called a C major triad.

Why is it called a C major triad and not a E major triad? Well, triads take their name from the name of the root, that is, the lowest sounding pitch when the triad is constructed as superimposed chords.

Why is it a major triad? How do we know that? Well, we have to go some more on the quality of the triad.

Now that we know how to form a triad, we could do this with all the notes in a given scale. Let us take G major scale. We take each note as a root and pick up the 3rd and 5th note from the root in the given scale.

G B D

A C E

B D F#

C E G

D F# A

E G B

F# A C

The interesting thing about the triad is that triad is still referred by the root position. For e.g, if you play D G B, this would still be a triad formed with G as the root. But the D is the bass note.

• G B D
• E G B
• Eb G B
• G B D
• E G# B
• D F# A
• E G B

Happy listening!! and will continue in our next lesson.