Requesting a simple Tutorial on Chords

[shashikantb]

Hi Guys,

I've been into this music thing since Jan this year. And the learning process is still going on. But one thing that seems like hardest nut to me is making Chords.

I googled for some tutorials, but all of them are so complicated that I could never understand them. I always stuck on questions like how to decide the chord position while moving from one chord to the next in a chord progression or how & when to use inversion(and what is this inversion). there are many such confusions.

I know we've got many good musician here who understand these things. And I'd appreciate if someone out of them take some time to explain these things in really simple words. This is going to be very helpful for me and many others like me.

[Sti-Jay]

What is a chord? Basically three notes played at the same time. There could be 4 semitones (half steps) between the first two notes and then 3 semitones between the two last. This is called a major chord. A Cmaj (C major) will be like C, E and G played at the same time.

And then if you don´t know music theory, learn it http://www.8notes.com/theory/


And if you actually knew what I just said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y01jIorpeA

[nathan-triplex]

Mate, I don't know any music theory, and I can make some decent-ish tunes... (https://soundcloud.com/nathan-triplex) I never took the time to learn any theory, just went straight into practical experimentation. Just fiddle around. A chord is anything more than one note played over one another. So anything from two to 100 notes (but 100 is getting a bit out there) I generally just use three and four notes.
So just play a few notes at the same time and go with what sounds good.

[diiz]

Minor chords sound sad, major chords sound happy.

That's basically it.

[nathan-triplex]

Minor chords sound sad, major chords sound happy.

Yep that's about all the music theory I knew when I started...

[diiz]

Minor chords sound sad, major chords sound happy.

Yep that's about all the music theory I knew when I started...

To be fair, that doesn't account for funny chords, like 5-chords ("power chords"), sus-chords (sus2, sus4) and the like, which are more like neutral, or somewhere in between the happy/sad scale.

Other than those and some other exceptions, most chords are derived from minor or major chords, and are more like just moody variations of them. Like, if a major chord is full on bliss, a major chord with a 7 is kind of like "meh, it's all right, I'm not overjoyed though"... and same with minors, if a pure minor chord is kind of like end-of-the-world depression, then minor 7 is more like a cool, gloomy kind of sad, the kind of sad you write poems about...

[averystrangeguy]

So basically, chords are just groups of notes. (by the way, the first comment is right, a that is what a major chord is)

Inversions are extremely simple: they're the same notes in the chord, just in a different order. For example, the C Major Chord (in its root (normal) position) is C E G, but an inversion of that would be E G C or G C E.

And for chord progressions... Well, that requires some theory stuff, but I guess for now, just try making progressions of different chords in a scale. Remember, not all chords in a scale are major chords, some are minor...

[roy38]

Yep i made a few tunes were i have several notes playing at a time, i did not know they were called chords. But like many of you mentioned i think a little learning goes a long way and it makes you able to recreate a certain atmosphere that you heard in another tune that you listened to.

[roy38]

What is a chord? Basically three notes played at the same time. There could be 4 semitones (half steps) between the first two notes and then 3 semitones between the two last. This is called a major chord. A Cmaj (C major) will be like C, E and G played at the same time.

And then if you don´t know music theory, learn it http://www.8notes.com/theory/


And if you actually knew what I just said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y01jIorpeA

Man, that site is amazing, has improved my projects greatly. I never knew there was so much to music, i thought you just put anything that sounded good, but your right it at least behooves one to know about scales, chords, etc.

[musikbear]

I have a video for realy basic things:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcUCFfQ3wn8
Ask for more if you like/ need more from same shelf