Topic: How do you tell if a chord is a major or minor? (Read 17927 times)

mareneo · « **on:** August 13, 2003, 02:27:05 PM »

How can you tell if a chord is a major or minor or diminished or aug etc..
If you are playing a minor on one hand and a major on the other or a diminished on one hand and a aug on the other. I am not really a organist or pianoist but I am picking it back up so I need to know the theory of this if it makes any since at all. All help is good help to me because I know nothing at all really but what a major and a minor chord is.

« **Reply #1 on:** August 13, 2003, 04:06:33 PM »

Quote from: mareneo

How can you tell if a chord is a major or minor or diminished or aug etc...

Well for one thing ,you will notice the SOUND of the chord, each one of those chords you mentioned, have a distint sound associated with them.

MAJOR = 1_3_5 = CEG
MINOR = 1_b3_5 = CEbC
DIMINISHED = 1_b3_b5 = CEbGb
AUGMENTED = 1_3_#5 = CEAb
MAJOR 7th = 1_3_5_7 = CEGB
DOMINANT 7th = 1_3_5_b7 = CEGBb
MINOR 7th = 1_b3_5_b7 = CEbGBb
DIMINISHED 7th = 1_b3_b5_bb7 = CEbGbA
AUGMENTED 7th = 1_3_b6_b7 = CEGAbBb

Listen to them, do the inversions for them, memorize the numbering for them. Hope this helped... :wink:

Author Topic: How do you tell if a chord is a major or minor? (Read 17927 times)

mareneo

How do you tell if a chord is a major or minor?

Re: How do you tell if a chord is a major or minor?