Theory On Tap
Lesson 4, Part II: Chords of the Major Scale

The purpose of this lesson is to show how different chords are derived from the major scale. These chords will obviously be the ones most commonly used for songs in a major key.

Note: As a reference, Greg Howard's Chord Compendia can be a useful companion document when going through these lessons.

Tertian Harmony Revisited

As we learned in Lesson 2, Western harmony is based on thirds. We can derive triads from scales by choosing every other note of a mode until we have three notes from that mode. Starting with a C major scale, we start with the C as the root, and skip a third up the scale to get E as the second note. We skip another third above E to get G, which is a fifth above the C. The notes C,E and G make up a major triad.

Here are the triads derived from modes of a C major scale:

Mode	Notes	Type of triad
Ionian (major)	C, E, G	Major Triad
Dorian	D, F, A	Minor Triad
Phrygian	E, G, B	Minor Triad
Lydian	F, A, C	Major Triad
Mixolydian	G, B, D	Major Triad
Aeolian	A, C, E	Minor Triad
Locrian	B, D, F	Diminished Triad

All major scales will contain seven different triads, which include three major triads (built on the first, fourth, and fifth notes of the scale), three minor triads (built on the second, third and sixth notes of the scale), and one diminished triad (built on the seventh note of the scale). (As we shall see in a later lesson, an augmented triad is derived from the harmonic and melodic minor scales.)

Try playing the above triads from the C major scale. Refer to the chord voicings given in lesson 2.

Exercise 1: Derive the seven triads from the modes of the F major scale. (Answers at end of lesson).

Seventh Chords derived from the major scale

Here are the seventh chords derived from a C major scale:

Mode	notes (R,3,5,7)	type of seventh chord
Ionian	C, E, G, B	Major 7
Dorian	D, F, A, C	Minor 7
Phrygian	E, G, B, D	Minor 7
Lydian	F, A, C, E	Major 7
Mixolydian	G, B, D, F	Dominant 7
Aeolian	A, C, E, G	Minor 7
Locrian	B, D, F, A	Half Diminished 7 (Minor 7 b5)

A major scale will contain the following types of Seventh chords: Two Major 7 chords (from the 1st and 4th tones), three minor 7 chords (from the 2nd, 3rd and 6th tones), one dominant 7 chord (from the 5th), and one half-diminished chord (from the 7th).

Exercise 2: Derive the seven 7th chords from the modes of a G major scale. (Answers at end of lesson).

Structure of seventh chords

A C major 7 chord is a C major triad with a B added as the 7th. Note that B is a major seventh above the root C. The notes in a major 7 chord will always have the following intervals above the (R)oot:

R, Major 3rd, Perfect 5th, Major 7th.

A dominant 7 chord is exactly like a major chord, except that it has a minor 7th. The notes of a dominant 7 chord will always have the following intervals above root:

R, Major 3rd, Perfect 5th, Minor 7th.

This chord has an interval of a tritone between its 3rd and 7th tones, which give it a more dissonant sound. A standard blues progression is made up of dominant 7 chords (more on this in a later lesson.) Note that the word dominant is usually dropped when naming this chord (i.e. a G dominant 7 chord is usually just called a G7 chord.

A minor 7 chord is a minor triad with a minor seventh. The intervals in a minor 7 chord are:

R, Minor 3rd, Perfect 5th, Minor 7th.

A half-diminished chord, or minor 7 b5, is exactly like a minor, but with a diminished 5th (or b5). The intervals are: R, Minor 3rd, Diminished 5, Minor 7th. A diminished chord (derived from the harmonic minor scale, as we shall see later) is exactly like the half-diminished chord, except that it has a diminished 7th instead of the minor seventh. Thus a half-diminished chord is a mix between a diminished chord and a minor chord, hence its name. This chord is rarely used in major keys; it occurs much more often in minor chord progressions, particularly a minor II-V-I progression (more on this in a subsequent lesson).

The following shows the intervals that make up the chord types (see Lesson 2 for meaning of symbols):

C Major 7 chord

    notes:      C    E    G     B
    scale tone: R   Ma3   P5   Ma7
                  ^     ^    ^
    intervals:   Ma3   mi3  Ma3
  

    notes:      G    B    D     F
    scale tone: R   Ma3   P5   mi7
                  ^     ^    ^
    intervals:   Ma3   mi3  mi3
  

    notes:      A    C    E     G
    scale tone: R   mi3   P5   mi7
                  ^     ^    ^
    intervals:   mi3   Ma3  mi3
  

    notes:      B    D    F     A
    scale tone: R   mi3   b5   mi7
                  ^     ^    ^
    intervals:   mi3   mi3  Ma3
  

Exercise 3: Name the notes for the following chords: G Ma7, E mi7, F7. (Answers at end of lesson).

Chord Symbols

There are many systems of chord symbols used by different players.
→ Here is a chart ← you can refer to with most of the various chord symbols in use.

Major 7 chords: I will use C Ma7 for a C major 7 chord.
C Maj 7 and C Mi7 are also common. Sometimes a triangle is used between the letter name and the 7.

Dominant 7 chords: I will use G7 for a G dominant 7 chord. Some people use G dom7, but G7 is by far the most common.

Minor 7 chords: I will use A mi7 for an A minor 7 chord. A-7 and A min7 are also common.

Half-diminished chords: I will use B min7(b5) for a B half diminished chord. A common symbol is a B followed by a circle with a slash (/) through it. A circle o is often used for diminished chords; thus a circle with a line through it means "half diminished".

Seventh chords on the melody strings

Here are seventh chord voicings for the melody strings. These are all voiced with just R-3-5-7. (12 str MR tuning) (10 str classic TBD)

The above voicings are in general a difficult stretch. They are there mostly to show you where the they are location wise in a "piano like" orientation.

Here are some seventh chords that omit a middle tone (usually the fifth), but reduce the chords down to three notes for you to play comfortably.

Seventh chord voicings on both bass and melody strings

An alternative addition to "dropped note" 7th chords above, you can also put the root on the bass side. Look at the "piano chords" above, and cover up the root with your hand. Notice that the three top notes are all shapes of triads that we learned in lesson 2!

If we play the root on the bass strings, we can voice these chords as a triad one third above the bass note.

Here are formulas for voicing seventh chords as triads over bass notes:

Major 7:	Play a minor triad who's root is a major third above the seventh chord's root.
Minor 7:	Play a major triad who's root is a minor third above the seventh seventh chord's root.
Dominant 7:	Play a diminished triad who's root is a major third above the seventh chord's root.
Minor 7 b5:	Play a minor triad who's root is a minor third above the seventh chord's root.
Note →	Although the root should be in the bass, you do not necessarily have to play the other chord tones in order. You can have the 3rd or 5th as the highest tone. Therefore, you can use any inversion of the triad to make up the chord voicing.

Exercise 4: Name the triad you would use starting from the third tone to play the following chords as seventh chords over bass notes:
   Ma7, F Ma7, G7, D7, A mi7, D mi7, B mi7(b5), E mi7(b5).
Then play each of the chords on your Instrument.

Seventh chord voicings on the bass strings

You will often want to accompany yourself by playing chords on the bass strings while you play the melody or solo on the melody strings. The following are chord voicings for the bass strings. Note that you can often omit the 5th of the chord, unless it is an altered (# or b) 5th (as in the minor 7 b5 chord.) Therefore, most of the following chords omit the 5th.

Note: All the chord shapes in the diagrams below of a certain type (e.g. Maj7) are positioned properly in relation to one another on the fretboard.

The green voicings that span over 4 strings tend to have the best combination of ease of play and overall sound.

Ma7 chords

7 chords

mi7 chords

mi7b5 chords

When playing chords for a song, you should try to pick voicings that minimize your hand movement, and allow the bass to progress somewhat melodically. Having three possible ways of playing each chord will usually allow you to keep the sequence of chords around the same fret.

The best way to learn to play these chords is to go and learn a song that uses these voicings. I recommend picking out a song or two from a fake book and learning them with both left hand chords and with two hand chords.

Extended voicings- 9th, 11th and 13th chords

We don't have to stop with the seventh in constructing chords. If we keep using thirds from the modes, we can add the ninth, 11th and 13th scale tones for more "colorful" chord voicings. Again, use the mode the chord is derived from in order to find these tones. If we start with the C ionian mode, we get:

notes:		C		E		G		B		D		F		A
scale tone:		R		Ma3		P5		Ma7		Ma9		p11		Ma13
			^		^		^		^		^		^
intervals:			Ma3		mi3		Ma3		mi3		mi3		Ma3

However, realize that the 11th tone (F) is a half step away from the Ma3 (E)! This would give the chord a very dissonant sound, when major chords are usually the most consonant. Therefore, we should either omit the 11th, or use a #11. The #11 comes from the lydian mode, and will give the chord a lydian tonality. If you play a major chord with a #11, make sure the soloist knows to play lydian!

We can think of the seventh chords as fathering chord "families" that can all be extended with 9th, 11th, and 13th tones. Of course, chords using all these tones will tend to sound very cluttered, so unless that's the effect you specifically want, the chord will sound better if you only add one or two extra color tones. The 9th and 13th are probably more common for major and dominant chords, while the 9th and 11th are perhaps more common for minor chords. (Note: a dominant 7th chord takes a #11 for the same reason that a major 7th chord does.)

Here is how to construct major, minor and dominant 13 chords:

If you look at the intervals between the color tones (9,11 and 13), you'll realize these three notes all make up triads.

For the major and dominant chords, the color tones make up major triads.
For the minor chord, the color tones make up a minor triad.

Thus, a good way to play the above chords would be to play the seventh chord on the bass strings, while playing a triad whose root is a whole step up on the melody strings. For example, here is how you can play the following chords:

13th chord	Bass 7th chord	Melody triad
FMaj13	FMaj7th chord	GMaj
G13	G7	AMaj
Ami13	Ami7	Bmi

I've never really seen anyone using extensions for the minor 7 b5 chord, but try playing a minor 7 b5 in the left hand and a major triad starting a half step higher (on the b9) in the right hand.

That's all for now. Have fun with these chords, and be careful out there!

Answers to Exercises

Exercise 1

Ionian = F Ma
Dorian = G mi
Phrygian = A mi
Lydian = Bb Ma
Mixolydian = C Ma
Aeolian = D Mi
Locrian = E dim

Exercise 2

Ionian = G Ma7
Dorian = A mi7
Phrygian = B mi7
Lydian = C Ma7
Mixolydian = D7
Aeolian = E mi7
Locrian = F#mi7(b5)

Exercise 3

G Ma7	G,B,D,F#
E mi7	E,G,B,D
F7	F,A,C,Eb

Exercise 4

C Ma7	Emi/C bass
F Ma7	Ami/F bass
G7	Bdim/G bass
D7	Edim/D bass
A mi7	CMa/A bass
D mi7	FMa/D bass
Bmi7(b5)	Dmi/B bass
Emi7(b5)	Gmi/E bass

copyright © 1995 Rick Bellinger