You have learned a lot since our first lesson! Now the time add more knowledge!
In our lessons on chords, you have learned how to use multiple formulas to build your own chords, the most important ones for now are major, minor and diminished. I suppose that if you want to learn music theory, it is because you want to improve your songwriting or musical skills, thus, you might wonder how does this help you? Yes now you know how to build chords, but how do you figure out which one to use? That is what this lesson is all about! And that little things that makes chords getting well together is harmony!
In our lessons on chords, you have learned how to use multiple formulas to build your own chords, the most important ones for now are major, minor and diminished. I suppose that if you want to learn music theory, it is because you want to improve your songwriting or musical skills, thus, you might wonder how does this help you? Yes now you know how to build chords, but how do you figure out which one to use? That is what this lesson is all about! And that little things that makes chords getting well together is harmony!
Just like everything in music theory, harmony resides in scales, you need to know how to build them to be able to use this lesson. I will only give you the major scale formula:
whole whole half whole whole whole half
Or, if you know your intervals:
Unison Major 2nd Major 3rd Perfect 4th Perfect 5th Major 6th Major 7th Octave
Now, let's build a C major scale:
C D E F G A B C
Now, what do we do? We harmonize the scale! What does it mean? We will determine each chords that the scale yields:
1 = C
2 = D
3 = E
4 = F
5 = G
6 = A
7 = B
2 = D
3 = E
4 = F
5 = G
6 = A
7 = B
Hum...Well, as you can see, this does not help us at all because we do not know if these chords are major or minor or whatever else. But how can we know that? Do not ask yourself too many questions for now and accept that the following information is true: the major chords in a major scale are always the 1st, 4th and 5th degree (they are called the primary major chords in a key), the minor chords are the 2nd, 3rd and 6th degrees (the primary minor chords) and finally, the 7th degree is always a diminished chord.
I = C = C major
ii = D = D minor
iii= E = E minor
IV = F = F major
V = G = G major
vi = A = A minor
vii= B = B diminished
ii = D = D minor
iii= E = E minor
IV = F = F major
V = G = G major
vi = A = A minor
vii= B = B diminished
These chords are the diatonic harmony a C major scale, because they belong naturally to the scale. This means that all these chords sound naturally good together! If you want to write a song in the key of C, these chords are the one you should use. All you need to do now is build your chords, pick a chord progression you like (like I-IV-V which is quite common) and write your song.
I = C = C major = C D E F G A B C = C-E-G
ii = D = D minor = D E F# G A B C# D = D-F-A
iii= E = E minor = E F# G# A B C# D# E = E-G-B
IV = F = F major = F G A Bb C D E F = F-A-C
V = G = G major = G A B C D E F# G = G-B-D
vi = A = A minor = A B C# D E F# G# A = A-C-E
vii= B = B diminished = B C#D# E F# G# A# B = B-D-F
ii = D = D minor = D E F# G A B C# D = D-F-A
iii= E = E minor = E F# G# A B C# D# E = E-G-B
IV = F = F major = F G A Bb C D E F = F-A-C
V = G = G major = G A B C D E F# G = G-B-D
vi = A = A minor = A B C# D E F# G# A = A-C-E
vii= B = B diminished = B C#D# E F# G# A# B = B-D-F
To build these triads, i first wrote each scale, and I applied the needed formulas. For the C major chord, I used the C major scale and selected the 1st, 3rd and 5th degrees, the major chord formula; for the D minor chord, I used the D major scale and applied the minor chord formula (1 b3 5) and so on. If you forgot the diminished chord formula, here it is: 1 b3 b5.
You now how to harmonize a major scale, you only need to apply the same method to any other major scale to harmonize it. However, I suppose you have noticed that haven't talked about minor scales, it is because you harmonize it like a major scale but the major and minor chords are different. To see how to harmonize a minor scale, we will use the C minor scale:
C D Eb F G Ab Bb C
If you do not remember, here is its formula in steps:
whole half whole whole half whole whole
And in intervals:
Unison Major 2nd Minor 3rd Perfect 4th Perfect 5th Minor 6th Minor 7th Octave
Okay, we have our scale, lets harmonize it:
i = C = C minor
ii = D = D diminished
III= Eb = Eb major
iv = F = F minor
v = G= G minor
VI = Ab = Ab major
VII= Bb= Bb major
ii = D = D diminished
III= Eb = Eb major
iv = F = F minor
v = G= G minor
VI = Ab = Ab major
VII= Bb= Bb major
As you can see in a minor scale, the minor chords are the 1st, 4th and 5th degrees, the major chords are the 3rd, 6th and 7th degrees and the 2nd degree the diminished chord. that is all you need to know harmonize a minor scale, like previously, you build your chords, and then it is done, you have seven chords sounding well together, ready to be used!
i = C = C minor = C D Eb F G Ab Bb C = C Eb G
ii = D = D diminished = D E F# G A B C# D = D F A
III= Eb = Eb major = Eb F G Ab Bb C D = Eb G Bb
iv = F = F minor = F G Ab Bb C Db Eb F = F Ab C
v = G= G minor = G A Bb C D Eb F G = G Bb D
VI = Ab = Ab major = Ab Bb C Db Eb F G Ab = Ab C Eb
VII= Bb= Bb major = Bb C D Eb F G A Bb = Bb D F
ii = D = D diminished = D E F# G A B C# D = D F A
III= Eb = Eb major = Eb F G Ab Bb C D = Eb G Bb
iv = F = F minor = F G Ab Bb C Db Eb F = F Ab C
v = G= G minor = G A Bb C D Eb F G = G Bb D
VI = Ab = Ab major = Ab Bb C Db Eb F G Ab = Ab C Eb
VII= Bb= Bb major = Bb C D Eb F G A Bb = Bb D F
If you look at the scales I used, to find major chords you should notice that I, of course used major scales, however, to find the D diminished too while for the minors I used minor chords. If you use minor chords like me, the minor chord changes, it is not 1 b3 5, but 1 3 5, because you do not need to the third degree again. The formula 1 b3 5 is to build a minor chord using a major scale (the minor scale is a variation of the major scale). If you did not understand anything I explained, you should read this.
And with this, we're finally done! By harmonizing a scale, you can write songs but you can also learn a song by ear, if you can find the key of the song (the root note), you can guess most of the song.
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If you want to learn more on music theory or if you want to support the websites, you can join the new Musikal Knowledge group on facebook, or follow the Official Twitter of Musikal knowledge and subscribe to our newsletter
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