Learning Guitar Chords
Building A Major Chord
Welcome to this lesson on learning guitar chords and how they are constructed.
In this lesson we are going to learn how to construct a major chord from its major scale.
Learning how to build guitar chords is fairly simple, once you understand the basic concept behind it.
It will give you a better understanding of how chords and scales relate to one another. You will eventually come to understand why certain scales sound better when played over certain chords more than others.
A chord is defined as a group of 3 or more different notes that are played together. Every chord has it's own formula that it follows, relating back to the major scale from which it's named. The formula for a major chord is 1, 3, 5, meaning that you use the 1st (root note),3rd, and 5th notes of the major scale to make the major chord.
Let's look at the C major scale for an example.....
Using the 1st (root note), 3rd, and 5th of the C major scale gives us the notes C, E, G which forms the C major chord.
C major chord
Let's look at another example, the D major scale.....
As you can see, D, F#, and A make up the notes in the D major chord.
D major chord
Following this rule will allow you to build any major chord using it's major scale.
Now if you'd like, practice building the other major chords using there major scales.
Below is a list of every major scale and the 1st(root note), 3rd, 5th of the scale that builds it's major chord.
In the next lesson of learning guitar chords we will dive into minor chords and how they are constructed.
Hope you have enjoyed this lesson!
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