How to Play Guitar Chords
Standard Chord Progressions
Melody, rhythm, and harmony are the building blocks of all music. If a guitarist wants to create their own music, they will spend the time mastering all three. This article introduces chords and chord harmonies. A guitarist should study how chords are formed and also how to play them. A guitarist should be familiar with the many standard chord progressions.
What are Chords?
A typical chord will have three different notes -- also called a triad. In fact, when a guitarist plays any three different notes simultaneously, then they are playing a verifiable chord – Like a C major chord, or an A minor chord.
Chords can involved more notes, but three specific notes known as the 1st degree , the 3rd degree , and the 5th degree of a major key/scale clearly specifies a chord type. There are also power chords (1st and 5th degrees), octave chords (1st and 8th degrees), but these are technically not considered verifiable chords. Moreover, it is important to know the sharp keys and the flat keys in order to construct three note chords (triads), and such.
What are Triads? 135-Formulas
- Major: 1st, 3rd, 5th
- Minor: 1st, flatted 3rd, 5th
- Augmented: 1st, 3rd, Sharp 5th
- Diminished Triad: 1st, flatted 3rd, flatted 5th.
When a guitarist plays these three notes (the 1st, the 3rd, and the 5th) together they will hear the characteristic sounds of a major, minor, diminished, or augmented chord (triad).
Triads in the Key of C Major
The key of C major contains the following notes: C, D, E, F, G, A, B. The note C is the 1st degree, the note E is the 3rd degree, and the note G is the 5th degree. Applying the 135 – formulas:
- C Major: 1st , 3rd, 5th ………………….........(C, E, G)
- C minor: 1st, flatted 3rd, 5th………………....(C, Eb, G)
- C augmented: 1st, 3rd, sharp 5th ……….....(C, E, G#)
- C diminished triad: 1st, flat 3rd, flat 5th…....(C, Eb, Gb)
Likewise, the key of A major includes the following notes: A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#. The minor formula is: 1st, flatted 3rd, 5th -- So the chord notes would be: A, C natural, E. These three notes make up the Am chord.
Standard Chord Progressions – How to Play Chords
Chords in the Key of G major
We typically use Roman Numerals to represent the specific chords. Capital Roman Numerals are major chords, whereas, lower case Roman Numeral are minor chords and such.
Key of G major: G, A, B, C, D, E, F#
(Chords or Triads)
I = Major…………………….G
ii = minor…………………….Am
iii = minor……………………Bm
IV = Major……….................C
V = Major……………………D
vi = minor……………………Em
vii dim = diminished…………F# dim (dim "triad" — 3 note chord)
These chords are found as follows: Write down the G major scale G, A, B, C, D, E, F# and extend it to G, A, B, C, D, E, F#, G, A, B, C -- then skip every other note as shown, starting on each individual note in the scale:
G, A, B, C, D, E, F#, G, A, B, C
I = G B D -- Notes of G Major Chord
ii = A C E -- Notes of A minor Chord
iii = B D F# -- Notes of Bm
IV = C E G -- Notes of C Major
V = D F# A -- Notes of D Major
vi = E G B -- Notes of E minor
vii dim = F# A C -- Notes of F# diminished (triad)
There are many standard chord progressions. A very popular one is the I, IV, V (the primary chords): I IV V I -- (G, C, D, G) or (Gmaj7, Cmaj7, D7, Gmaj7)
Also: A typical 12 bar blues progression is the following (each chord last one bar or measure):
I, I, I, V7,
IV7, IV7, I, I,
V7, VI7, I, V7 ...
G, G, G, G7,
C7, C7, G, G,
D7, C7, G, D7 (last four chords is the turnaround)
It is common in the blues to extended the chords to 7ths (four note chords) and beyond.
Chords in the Key of C major
Likewise, a guitarist can work out the harmonized chords in the key of C major (C, D, E, F, G, A, B):
- I = C Major: C,E,G
- ii = D minor: D,F,A
- iii = E minor: E,G,B
- IV = F Major: F,A,C
- V = G Major: G,B,D
- vi = A minor: A,C,E
- vii dim = B dim: B, D, F
Chord Progressions in The Key of C Major
- I, vi, IV, V, I……………..(C, Am, F, G, C)
- I, ii, iii, ii, I……………….(C, Dm, Em, Dm, C)
- I, IV, I……………………(C, F, C)
- I, IV, I, V, I………………(C, F, C, G, C)
- I, VII, IV, I……………….(C, Bb, F, C)
- I, VII, I……………………(C, Bb, C)
- I, IV, V, I…………………(C, F, G, C)
- i, iv, i, V, i………………...(Am, Dm, Am, E, Am)
- i, V, i……………………...(Am, E, Am -- Also: Am, E7, Am – that is, i, V7, i)
- I, V, IV, V, I……………...(C, G, F, G, C)
List of Chord Progressions
- Am7, Em7, F Major 7, Em7
- E9+, Am7, Bm7.
- Am, C, D, Dm, Am, G, F, E7
- Dm, A7, Dm, Gm, Dm, A7, Dm
- Dm, G, C
- C, Em, Am, Dm, G, C
- C, Am, Dm, G, C
- CMaj7, FMaj7,G7, CMaj7
- Dm7, G7, CMaj7
- CMaj7, Em7, Am7, Dm7, G7, CMaj7
- CMaj7, Am7, Dm7, G7, CMaj7
- CMaj7, Am7, FMaj7, G7, CMaj7
- C, Em7, Am, Asus2, Am, D7, D7sus4, D7, FMaj7
- B, F#, G#m, E
- B5, F#5, G#5, E5 (Power chords: 1st and 5th)
- B8, F#8, G#8, E8 (Octave chords: 1st and 8th)
- D, D/C#, D/G, D/A
- Em7, G, Dsus4, A7sus4
Chords (triads) are easily created using the 135-formulas. They are also easily harmonized using the major key harmonization pattern: Major (I), minor (ii), minor (iii), Major (IV), Major (V), minor (vi), diminished (vii dim).
All a guitarist needs to do is choose the key, create the chords, and play the chords in the sequence given by the standard chord progressions -- such as the I, IV, V or the ii, V, I. The I, IV, V is common in blues and rock music. The ii, V, I is common in Jazz.
Triads
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Triads
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