A chord arises from several notes played at the same time. What makes them a major, minor or a seventh chord is solely the distance between the individual notes – measured in semitones.
Below we show each of these distances on a neutral semitone strip, independent of any instrument. One cell equals one semitone, twelve cells one octave.
The distances between the individual notes characterise the scale in use. Depending on the scale, the respective chords can be assembled from the matching notes of that scale.
New to scales? We explain step by step what a scale actually is and how it is built. Scales explained →
Choose a root and a chord type below – the notes are marked on the strip.
The smallest step in music is a semitone. The strip below shows exactly that: one cell per semitone, twelve cells per octave, then everything repeats. Two semitones make a whole tone.
An interval is the distance between two notes and has a name. Pick one: the root stays red, the second note is marked.
One cell = one semitone. Red is the root, blue the other notes; the number names the degree. The thick lines separate the octaves.
| Semitones | Interval | From C | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Unison | C | the root, homely |
| 1 | minor second | C# | sharp, grating |
| 2 | major second | D | step of a scale |
| 3 | minor third | D# | dark – minor |
| 4 | major third | E | bright – major |
| 5 | Fourth | F | open, carrying |
| 6 | Tritone | F# | tense, unresolved |
| 7 | Fifth | G | stable, empty |
| 8 | minor sixth | G# | wistful |
| 9 | major sixth | A | soft, warm |
| 10 | minor seventh | A# | bluesy, yearning |
| 11 | major seventh | B | floating, jazzy |
| 12 | Octave | C | the same note, higher |
Building chords works through stacking thirds. Several third intervals are stacked one after another. The basic chord of Western music consists of three notes: root, third, fifth. You build it by going up a third from the root and then another third from that note.
The order of the thirds is decisive. If a major third comes first, followed by a minor third, you get a MAJOR chord. If the minor third comes first, followed by a major third, you get a MINOR chord.
Alternatively, diminished or augmented chords can be formed. These consist of 2 consecutive minor thirds, or major thirds respectively.
Stack another third on top of the triad and you get a four-note chord. The new note sits a seventh above the root – hence the name seventh chord.
Seventh chords no longer sound settled, they want to move on. That is exactly why they are the backbone of jazz, soul and blues – and in classical music the engine of every cadence.
A chord stays the same chord even if a different one of its notes is the lowest. Take the bottom note and move it up an octave and you get an inversion.
Below, the C major chord is shown in its various inversions.
A power chord consists of only two different notes: root and fifth. The third, which otherwise decides between major and minor, is deliberately left out – which is why a power chord sounds neither bright nor dark, but simply powerful and neutral.
It is exactly this missing third that makes it so popular in rock, punk and metal: with distortion a third would quickly sound muddy, whereas the empty fifth stays punchy and clear. Often the root is additionally doubled an octave higher.
The chord symbol carries a 5 (e.g. C5) – a hint that only the fifth sits above the root.
Every root, every chord type, every inversion.
If you build a triad on each degree of a scale from the notes of exactly that scale, a separate chord arises on each note. Because the semitone steps of the scale are unevenly distributed, the same chord type does not come out everywhere – sometimes major, sometimes minor, once diminished.
This fixed sequence is the same for every major or minor scale. It explains why certain chords in a key “belong together”.
Choose the root and quality – the table shows the matching chord for each degree.
| Degree | Interval | Note | Chord | Chord type |
|---|