O.k, so you just learned some scales and want learn how to play some chords that would work with those notes. Just like this style of article writing there is a formula that determines what quality of chord (Major, minor, diminished, Etc.) goes with what degree (refers to which number 1-7) of the scale. Many people think that writing chords is just a matter of guess and check, but it doesn’t have to be that way. By using these chord formulas you can have the background to write great chords with knowledge and ease.

The formula for the chords in any Major Key is 1-Major, 2-minor, 3-minor, 4-Major, 5-Major, 6-minor, and 7-diminished. If you write out the seven notes from C major (c,d,e,f,g,a,b) and apply the formula you will get this. 1-C Major, 2-D minor, 3-E minor, 4-F Major, 5-G Major, 6-A minor, 7-B diminished. Simply put, Major chords sound happier, minor chords sound darker, and diminished chords sound dissonant. Let’s apply the formula to the key of G major. Write out the notes (G,A,B,C,D,E,F#) and label them 1-7. Lastly apply the formula. Your paper should look like this 1-G Major, 2-A minor, 3-B minor, 4-C Major, 5-D Major, 6-E minor, 7-F# diminished. You can transpose keys by playing for example a 1,4,5, chord progression in C Major (1-C Major, 4-F Major, 5-G Major), then moving it to G Major (1-G Major, 4-C Major, 5-D Major). Play around with picking different numbers starting with 1 to create different chord progressions. For example a 1,3,6,5 a 1,6,4, a 1,5,4,7 etc. You can then transpose them to any key.

The formula for the chords in any Natural minor key is 1-minor, 2-diminished, 3-Major, 4-minor, 5-minor, 6-Major, 7-Major. If you write out the 7 notes of A Natural Minor (A,B,C,D,E,F,G) and apply the formula you will get this 1-A minor, 2-B diminished, 3-C Major, 4-D minor, 5-E minor, 6-F Major, 7-G Major. You may have noticed that the notes of C Major and of A Natural minor are the same (no sharps or flats) but the only difference is that C Major starts with the letter C and A Natural minor starts with the letter A. A Natural minor is the relative minor of C Major. If we applied the formula to the notes of E Natural minor (E,F#,G,A,B,C,D) we would get this 1-E minor, 2-F# diminished, 3-G Major, 4-A minor, 5-B minor, 6-C Major, 7-D Major. E Natural minor is the relative minor of G Major. Now you can create chord progressions and transpose them by taking the same steps you took with the chords of the Major keys.

When you raise the seventh degree in Natural Minor you get the Harmonic Minor Scale. The formula for the chords in any Harmonic Minor scale is 1-minor, 2-diminished, 3-Augmented, 4-minor, 5-Major, 6-Major, 7-diminished. When you write out the notes of A Harmonic minor (A,B,C,D,E,F,G#) and apply this formula you will get this 1-A minor, 2-B diminished, 3-C Augmented, 4-D minor, 5-E Major, 6- F Major, 7- G# diminished. Take the same steps as you did in the two previous paragraphs in order to explore what you can do with the Hamonic minor chord formula. The great thing about the chords from the Harmonic minor keys is that you can mix and match them with those of the Natural minor and Melodic Minor keys (which I’ll talk about in another post). A very useful tool that I use is the chord trainer that they have on 8notes.com. You can select any note and pair it with a chord quality (Major, minor, diminished, Augmented) to get any triad (3 note chord) you want. You can also listen to how the chord sounds on the website. Here’s the direct link 8notes.com/chordtrainer

If you are interested in us doing a music theory course, email us with the subject Music Theory at info@interactivemusicteacher.com and we will teach one once we get enough demand for it.