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*CHORDS AND THEIR USES*

A chord is simply multiple notes played together, just like when two singers sing in harmony- different notes that sound good together.

They need naming and the names need explaining but most important; you should get familiar with the sounds they give your audience so that you know how to give a funk or romance vibe.

Major & Minor | Add Numbers | sus Chords | Powerchords | Stroke Chords | Octaves | Mixolydian

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*MAJOR & MINOR*

The two fundamental and most common chord types are ‘Major’ and ‘Minor’. Major chords have the jolly sound and Minor chords give off a more gloomy atmosphere. Songs then get based on what is called a major or minor ‘Key’ which to the ear is the ‘mood’ or ‘vibe’ of the music.

Red Hot Chili Peppers fans can hear the Major character in ‘Scar Tissue’ followed by the Minor sound in ‘Californication’.
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Radiohead´s millions of OK Computer fans should notice the Major in ‘No Surprises’ and Minor in ‘Exit Music For A Film’, very different moods.
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When you see chords named you will not usually see them named ‘Major’, that is considered the default and are just named such as D or E. The D minor chord is written as Dm, E minor as Em.

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*NUMBERS IN CHORDS*

Major and Minor chords are made up of three notes from the Major or Minor scale.
Everybody knows the major scale, it´s the one you sang as a kid Doh-Ray-Mee-Fah-So-La-Tee-Doh The three notes of this scale that make up the chords are 1st 3rd 5th.

Now the added numbers; you often see chords like E7 and C9 each of which have their own characteristics, but what does it mean?

The three C Major notes: kbd_cmaj3   Guitar: fret_cmaj

The three G Major notes: kbd_gmaj3   Guitar: fret_gmaj

Em7 adds the 7th note of the minor scale: kbd_em7   Guitar: fret_em7

‘Am I Inside’ by Alice in Chains. Verse is mostly an Em7 arpeggio.
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Cadd9 (C9) adds the 9th note of the major scale: kbd_c9   Guitar: fret_c9

‘The Tourist’ by Radiohead. Every chord in the verse has add9 over it.
Warning: Addictive Harmonies!
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*SUSPENDED CHORDS*

Suspended or 'sus' chords are not as complicated as assumed. Esus4 - used in the Nirvana Come As You Are chorus - means that the 4th is not so much added, instead the 3rd is lifted up to 4th. Remember that the 3rd is a fundamental note so when you raise it up to 4th or drop it down to 2nd the chord is then suspended to sus4 or sus2.

A sus4: kbd_asus4   Guitar: fret_asus4

A sus2: kbd_asus2   Guitar: fret_asus2   For Asus2 the B string is left open.

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*POWERCHORDS*

Powerchords don´t add or suspend any notes- they take one out. Powerchords don´t use the major or minor 3rd of the scale. Powerchords are often named as G5, C5, etc because they are now only the Root Note and 5th of the scale.

G5 Powerchord: kbd_g5   Guitar: fret_g5

C5 Powerchord: kbd_c5   Guitar: fret_c5

When you remove that characteristic major or minor harmony the sound goes very straight and solid. If you hear a guitar thrashing out with masses of overdrive you can be pretty sure that they are playing powerchords because the full majors and minors sound messy and broken on high gain.

Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana.
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Note; although powerchords are only two notes, they are usualy played with three strings to fill up and brighten the sound, the yellow spot on the pictures above are the optional Octave.

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*X⁄x STROKE CHORDS*

Stroke Chords like A⁄d. The Root note of an A chord is A, the Root note of a G chord is G etc. In this A⁄d chord the Root note of A has been changed to D. This chord is used in the fairly simple chord sequence for Dry Your Eyes by The Streets. 1st chord A, second chord A/d.

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Dropping the Root: kbd_amaj_d   Guitar: fret_a fret_a-d

It is the same principle as the suspended and numbered chords but written differently because it is the very root of the chord rather than the harmonies above.

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*OCTAVES IN CHORDS*

Think about the Doh-Ray-Mee-Fah-So-La-Tee-Doh scale again and count the notes;
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 notes is an Octave.
Now the strings; basic major and minor chords are only three notes yet when played on guitar up to 6 strings are used so how does this work? The notes get repeated in what are known as Octaves.

kbd_octave In the simple C major scale these notes are C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C

So as you see in the letters the 1st and 8th are both C.
When we look at it like that, the five string C major chord played on guitar only achieves three notes:

kbd_full C   fret_full C

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*THE MIXOLYDIAN MODE CONFUSION*

Chords named as 'C7' or 'A7' do not actualy use the 7th note of the major scale, these very common blues/rock sound chords actualy involve the 7th of a different scale called the ‘Mixolydian Mode’. For the C7 chord shown below this is the A# note, which would be B in the major scale.

kbd_cmix 7th   fret_mix7

It is such a common chord type in guitar music that everyone with 6 metal strings in their hand just calls it E7 because it rolls off the tongue easier than 'E mixolydian 7th'.
That is why you see other chords specified as C major7th when they shouldn´t need to be.

If you are confused or want to debate it...

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