How To Remember Larger Chords

Simply put, three note chords (like Cmaj or Fmin) are called "triads." When you add tones to the basic triad, you form "sevenths" and "ninths" and others.

Here's an easy, basic formula to help figure out 3 fingered chords to the largest 13th chord.

1. The number of notes = The type of chord. 

3 notes = Triad
Four notes = Seventh
Five notes = Ninth
Six notes = Eleventh
Seven notes = Thirteenth

* Key Rule*

2. By knowing major scales, you can learn any triad, seventh, ninth, eleventh and thirteenth.

Here's the C major scale:

C D E F G A B C

To form various chords, you take notes from the C major scale. With scales, you play the notes individually, one after the other. When you're playing chords, hold down multiple notes at the same time.

To apply this simple principle, you need to convert the major scale to numbers.

C = 1
D = 2
E = 3
F = 4
G = 5
A = 6
B = 7

Now you can apply these formulas to make chords:

Major triads - 1 + 3 + 5
Minor triads - 1 + b3 + 5
Diminished triad - 1 + b3 + b5
Augmented triad - 1 + 3 + #5

Major seventh - 1 + 3 + 5 + 7
Minor seventh - 1 + b3 + 5 + b7
Dominant seventh - 1 + 3 + 5 + 7
Half Diminished seventh - 1 + b3 + b5 + b7
Diminished seventh - 1 + b3 + b5 + bb7 (think of it as "6")

Major ninth - 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9
Minor ninth - 1 + b3 + 5 + b7 + 9
Dominant ninth - 1 + 3 + 5 + b7 + 9

... the same for eleventh chords, thirteenth chords, altered chords, major sixth, minor sixth, etc.

So, applying the formula in the key of C Major, the C maj chord formula is 1 + 3 + 5. The 1st tone of the C Major scale is C. The 3rd tone is E and the 5th tone is G. C major triad: C E G.

When you see the "b"... that means to lower the note a half step. If you see b3, that means to take the third tone of the scale and lower it one-half step. If a minor chord is 1 + b3 + 5, that is C Eb G, we take the third tone of the scale and lower it one-half step

Major triads: 1 + 3 + 5
Cmaj: C E G

Minor triads: 1 + b3 + 5
Cmin: C Eb G

Diminished triad: 1 + b3 + b5
Cdim: C Eb Gb

Augmented triad: 1 + 3 + #5
Caug: C E G#

Major seventh: 1 + 3 + 5 + 7
Cmaj7: C E G B

Minor seventh: 1 + b3 + 5 + b7
Cmin7: C Eb G Bb

Dominant seventh: 1 + 3 + 5 + b7
C7 (Cdom7): C E G Bb

Half Diminished seventh: 1 + b3 + b5 + b7
C half dim7: C Eb Gb Bb

Diminished seventh: 1 + b3 + b5 + bb7 (think of it as "6")
Cdim7: C Eb Gb A

3. You can play 9th, 11th or 13th chords by knowing seventh chords.

The major ninth chord is:
1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9. The Cmaj9 chord is C E G B D. A shortcut is to play Emin7 over C.
C/EGBD = Cmaj9. How can we make apply this to all maj9 chords?

4. Take the iii min7 of any major key.

1. Start with the keynote of the major scale. If you want to play a Cmaj9 chord, the keynote would be "C". Play this on on your left hand.

2. With the r.h., locate the 3rd tone of the scale and play a minor seventh chord on that tone. In the key of C, the 3rd tone is E. So, you would play an Emin7 chord on C bass.

Here's a list of all twelve major ninth chords:

Cmaj9: C + Emin7 (C E G B)

Fmaj9: F + Amin7 (F A C E G)

Bbmaj9: Bb + Dmin7 (Bb D F A C)

Ebmaj9: Eb + Gmin7 (Eb G Bb D F)

Abmaj9: Ab + Cmin7 (Ab C Eb G Bb)

Dbmaj9: Db + Fmin7 (Db F Ab C Eb)

Gbmaj9: Gb + Bbmin7 (Gb Bb Db F Ab)

Bmaj9: B + D#min7 (B D# F# A# C#)

Emaj9: E + G#min7 (E G# B D# F#)

Amaj9: A + C#min7 (A C# E G# B)

Dmaj9: D + F#min7 (D F# A C# E)

Gmaj9: G + Bmin7 ( G B D F# A)

Minor Ninth Chords

Minor ninth chords have a similar formula. Instead of taking the 3rd tone of the scale and playing a minor 7th chord on it, simply take the b3rd of the scale and play a major 7th chord on it. It's kind of like the opposite of the maj9 chord.

Maj9 vs Min9

Maj9: Take the 3rd tone of the scale and play its minor seventh chord.
Min9: Take the b3rd tone of the scale (or the relative major) and play its major seventh chord.

1. Start with the keynote of the major scale. (Let's use C)
2. With the r.h., locate the b3 tone of the scale. Find the natural third tone (E) and lower it one-half step to Eb. The b3 of Cmaj is Eb.
3. Play Ebmaj7 over C bass and there's a nice min9 chord.

Cmin9: C + Ebmaj7 chord (C Eb G Bb D)

For more information, learn about the 9th chord.

I recommend for your home library, the 300 Pg. Home Study Course








"The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you." B.B.King

144 Chords To Know

Photo Credit: Free Digital Photos

Triads

The three elements of traditional music are melody, rhythm and harmony. The harmonic element in most of the music we hear and play is based upon three-note chords called triads. Because of the important role harmony plays in most music, knowledge of triads and awareness of their sounds are essential for fluent reading, good intonation and sensitive listening. Triads are written by combining various intervals, so thorough command of interval terminology is vital.

Remember that a chord is three or more tones sounding simultaneously.

It's so important to know how to play:

1. All 12 major chords.
2. All 12 minor chords.
3. All 12 augmented chords.
4. All 12 diminished chords.


That makes a total of 48 chords to learn on the piano and if you invert (turn upside down) each chord 3 times, now you have a grand total of 144 sounding chords to play. I've talked about chord inversions before and you can view the post here.

By augmented, I mean to make the chord larger and by diminished, let's make the chord smaller. Have a look at a former post, augmented-and-diminished-chords.

For example:

C Major Triad = CEG

C Minor Triad = CEbG

C Diminished Triad = CEbGb

C Augmented Triad = CEG#

Piano Chord Chart

http://www.8notes.com

Christmas Song: Joy To The World

The history of the song can be found, here. Maybe try playing this famous Christmas Carol in a few of the major keys for piano practice.

1. Key of C

C                 Dm   C   G7   C
Joy to the world!  The Lord is come;
     F        G        C
Let earth receive her King.
C
Let every heart prepare Him room,
     C
And heav'n and nature sing,
     G7
And heav'n and nature sing,
     C      F   C     Dm   C  G7  C  
And heav'n and heav'n and nature sing. 

2. Key of D

Joy to the world! 
[D] 
The Lord is come! 
[Em D A7 D] 
Let earth receive her King! 
[G A D] 
Let every heart prepare Him room, 
[D G D D G D] 
And heav'n and nature sing, 
[D] 
and heav'n and nature sing, 
[A A7] 
and heav'n and heav'n 
[D G D] 
and nature sing! 

3. Key of E

E                     A       E
Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
   A      B          E
Let earth receive her King;
   E          E          E
Let every heart prepare Him room,
    E                  E
And Heaven and nature sing,
    B                B
And Heaven and nature sing,
   E           A         E  B     E
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

4. Key of F

F                     Bb       F
Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
   Bb      C          F
Let earth receive her King;
    F           F           F
Let every heart prepare Him room,
    F                 F
And Heaven and nature sing,
    C                 C
And Heaven and nature sing,
    F           Bb          F  C   F
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

5. Key of G

G                     C       G
Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
    C     D           G
Let earth receive her King;
    G           G           G
Let every heart prepare Him room,
    G                 G
And Heaven and nature sing,
    D                 D
And Heaven and nature sing,
    G           C           G  D   G
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

6. Key of A

A                     D       A
Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
    D     E           A
Let earth receive her King;
    A          A           A
Let every heart prepare Him room,
    A                 A
And Heaven and nature sing,
   E                 E
And Heaven and nature sing,
    A           D          A  E   A
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

7. Key of B

B                    E       B
Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
    E     F           B
Let earth receive her King;
    B         B           B
Let every heart prepare Him room,
    B                 B
And Heaven and nature sing,
   F                F
And Heaven and nature sing,
    B           E          B  F  B
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Listen to Joy to The World Tracks in Bb, Db, Eb, and Gb at www.rhapsody.com

If you haven't seen this post on the chord dictionary, be sure and visit piano chords. Latinpianist provides a great study on basic chords for beginners.

Be sure and check out my article on Constructing Simple Chords.

I noticed some of you have signed up for the  GospelKeys Master Class featuring Michael Bereal. That's so cool... thanks!

Have a wonderful Christmas season!

"The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you." B.B.King

Red Sails In The Sunset

 In 1935 Jimmy Kennedy wrote the words and Hugh Williams wrote the music to REd sails In The Sunset. It's a slow song, played in cut time. 

The symbol , a "semicircle" with a vertical line through is also a carry-over from the notational practice of late-Medieval and Renaissance music, where it signified tempus imperfectum diminutum (diminished imperfect time)—more precisely, a doubling of the speed, or proportio dupla, in duple meter. In modern notation, it is used in place of ²² and is called "alla breve" or, colloquially, "cut time" or "cut common time". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_signature

 It's a fairly easy song to play. Here it is in the Key of C from Ultimate Guitar.com

C                      F                C
Red sails in the sunset, way out on the sea
             G7      G                C
Oh, carry my love one, home safely to me
                        F                   C
He sailed at the dawning, all day I ve been blue
                 G7    G                 C
Red sails in the sunset, I m trusting in you
 
      F             C      F                      C
Swift wings we must borrow, make straight for the shore
F          C     D7                      G7
We marry tomorrow, and you go sailing no more
C                      F                C
Red sails in the sunset, way out on the sea
             G7      G                C
Oh, carry my love one, home safely to me
 
                       F                C
Red sails at the sunset, way out on the sea
             G7      G                C
Oh, carry my love one, home safely to me


As performed by Fats Domino

C   Em           Gm     F    Fm         C   
Red sails in the sunset; way out on the sea.
A7           Dm7       G     G7        C  G
Oh, carry my loved one, home safely to me.

C   Em            Gm      F    Fm            C    A7 
She sailed at the dawning, all day I've been blue,
A7               Dm7    G    G7          C
Red sails in the sunset, I'm trusting in you.

F     Dm7           C
Swift wings we must borrow,
F    G                C    C7 
make straight for the shore.
F  Dm7     C
We marry tomorrow,
A7  D         D7         G 
and you ll go sailing no more.

C   Em           Gm     F    Fm         C   
Red sails in the sunset; way out on the sea,
A7           Dm7       G               C
Oh, carry my loved one, home safely to me. 

F  Dm7     C
We marry tomorrow,R
A7  D         D7         G 
and she ll go sailing no more.

C   Em           Gm     F    Fm         C   
Red sails in the sunset; way out on the sea,
A7           Dm7       G               C
Oh, carry my loved one, home safely to me. 

The song, Red Sails in the Sunset, was recorded by Fats 

Domino, Connie Stevens, Dean Martin and more in the 50's.

Nat King Cole singing the song on YouTube.

Here is the chord chart I am playing out of my Hawaiian 

songbook:

G                      C      Cm6         G
Red sails in the sunset, way out on the sea
     Ddim        Am7 D7  Am7 D7        G        
Oh, carry my love one, home safely to me
                        C      Cm6             G
He sailed at the dawning, all day I ve been blue
      Ddim      Am7 D7 AM7   D7                
Red sails in the sunset, I m trusting in you
 
C      Cm6             G      D7                  G
Swift wings we must borrow, make straight for the shore
C    Cm6      G     A7                      D7
We marry tomorrow, and you go sailing no more
G                      C      Cm6          G
Red sails in the sunset, way out on the sea
      Ddim       Am7  D7 Am    D7                G
Oh, carry my love one, home safely to me
 
                       G   C   Cm6          G
Red sails at the sunset, way out on the sea
     Ddim      Am7  D7    Am  D7      G Cm6 G
Oh, carry my love one, home safely to me

The Diminished triads use only the minor thirds, one on top of the other. They sound dissonant and very scary like the interesting background music we hear from an old vaudeville skit. You know, when you see the lady tied to the railroad tracks. Oh, gosh, here comes the train! That is the sound I am hearing. They often create a very restless, nervous and tense feeling. So, C to Eb is a minor third and Eb to Gb is a minor third, too. Some folks refer to them as 'the Halloween' sound.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6389980

Absolute D

C# Eb F# Ab Bb C D E F G A B C

C# Eb F# Ab Bb C D E F G A B C

C# Eb F# Ab Bb C D E F G A B C

So, when I play Ddim in the song, it looks like this: G#/FBD

A Cm6 would be played, C/CEbG

Are there some other songs that you like to play that have some diminished chords thrown in? Take a look at this video when you have the time, Finding the Key


Best,
LadyD

"The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you." B.B.King

Slash Chords

What are slash chords?

* Here's my definition of a slash chord:
Giving you an alternative bass note, we say A over E, for example. The chord looks like this: A/E So, play A in the r.h. and E in the l.h.

* Here's an online definition of slash chords at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slash_chord
"In popular music a slash chord or slashed chord is a chord whose bass note or inversion is indicated by the addition of a slash and the letter of the bass after the root note letter"...

* Piano Chord Symbols: Slash Chords by Duane Shinn
Great video showing you what slash chords are all about

Piano Chord Symbols: Slash Chords

* Use Slash Chords, Diminished Sound in Gospel Music
Play:
C/ C E G
B/ B E G#
A/ C E A
F#/ A D F#
G/ B D G

* LGM Definition of Slash Chord
A slash chord is nothing more than a chord with an alternate bass note.
They're also called compound chords.

When you see a chord like A/E, the first character is the chord and the second character after the slash is the bass note, so A/E would be an A chord with an E bass note instead of an A bass note.

Some of the most common types of slash chords are inversion based, meaning that one of the notes already in the chord triad are used for the bass note.
G/B, D/F#, A/C#, A/E...all are inversions of the chord but using either the 3rd note of the 5th note as the bass note instead of the root note.

Some slash chords are non-inversion based, like B/E. The B triad is B, D#, F#...there's no E there BUT if you add extensions to the triad to make, say, a BMaj9/E, then you've got B, D# and F# as well as C# and E so BMaj9/E becomes inversion based.

http://www.learngospelmusic.com/forums/index.php/topic,51740.0

So, C/G means play G chord with your left hand and a C chord with your right.

* Chord Charts At LGM

Slash chord chart #1:

http://www.learngospelmusic.com/forums/index.php/topic,55476.0.html


Slash chord chart #2:

http://www.learngospelmusic.com/forums/index.php/topic,55491.0.html

Slash chord chart #3:

http://www.learngospelmusic.com/forums/index.php/topic,55694.0.html


http://www.learngospelmusic.com/forums/index.php/topic,55603.0.html

slash chords

http://www.ibreathemusic.com/cat/3

http://www.learngospelmusic.com/forums/index.php/topic,52634.0.html



* Duane has an Ebook on Power Chords

http://www.ebookexplorer.com/book_1971.html

* FOUR PART CHORDS OVER ROOT - Chord Voicings

REMEMBER: for these chords you'll want to play a 4-note chord in your RH over your root in the LH. Also you can invert that chord in your RH to any inversion you'd like unless otherwise noted.

Em7 / C = Cmaj9 spelled out.. C/EGBD
note: another way to think about this one is to play a minor 7th chord off of the 3rd in your RH and the root in your LH

Ebmaj7 / C = Cm9 spelled out.. C/EbGBbD
note: another way to think about this one is to play a major 7th chord off the minor 3rd in your RH and the root in your LH

Bm7b5 / G = G9 spelled out.. G/BDFA
note: another way to think about this one is to play a minor 7 flat 5 chord off the 3rd in your RH and the root in your LH

Fmaj7b5 / G = G13 spelled out.. G/FABE
note: another way to think about this one is to play a major 7 flat 5 chord off the flat 7 in your RH and the root in your LH
note: only root and 2nd inversion should be used on the chord in the RH

Dm7 / G = G9sus4 or G11 <-- this is a HOT chord that I use all the time I substitute the 3 chord in a 3-6-2 progression for this sus chord (I'll post this later)
note: another way to think about this one is to play a minor 7th chord off the 5th in your RH and the root in your LH
note: spelled out.. G/DFAC

Fmaj7 / G = G13sus4 <-- Another HOT chord I use a lot too. I substitute the 5 chord in a 2-5-1 progression for this sus chord
note: another way to think about this one is to play a major 7th chord off the flat 7 in your RH and the root in your LH
note: spelled out.. G/FACE

Fm7b5 / G = G7 (b9 #5)
note: another way to think about this one is to play a minor 7 flat 5 chord off the flat 7 in your RH and the root in your LH
note: spelled out.. G/FAbBEb

Bmaj7b5 / G = G7 (#9 #5)
note: another way to think about this one is to play a major 7 flat 5 chord off the 3rd in your RH and the root in your LH
note: only root position should be used on the chord in the RH
note: spelled out.. G/BD#FA# or G/BEbFBb (the first way is the best way to look at it b/c you can see that the 9 and 5 are sharped)

Fmaj7#5 / G = G13 (#11)
note: another way to think about this one is to play a major 7 sharp 5 chord off the flat 7 in your RH and the root in your LH
note: only root position should be used on the chord in the RH
note: spelled out.. G/FAC#E

http://www.learngospelmusic.com/forums/index.php/topic,55491.0.html

* Final Note

I have found that most people who chord songs in the LH/RH format do so because they play by ear. Many folks want to read sheet music and read chord symbols. It's great to have the chords written out for voicing purposes. Using chord symbols for posting chords is easier, but many want chords written out so that they can understand. Learning alternative bass notes will add so much more to your playing. When I first started playing the piano and soloing, I used sheet music. When I came aboard worship teams and gained experience playing with a bass player, I learned to read chord charts and gladly welcomed slash chords, so as not to step on the bass players toes! lol

All the best,

~ LadyD