Diatonic Major Chords
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1
2Diatonic Major Chords
Brian Oberlin
Most Western music is based on the harmony that a major or minor scale produces. In order to generate chords from a scale,
take each scale degree and stack every other scale degree afterwards. These are called thirds. The results are "diatonic chords" built
from a scale, hence, diatonic major or minor chords. One must stack at least three notes (called a triad) in order to make a chord.
When one stacks yet another third on top of a triad, the result is a 7th chord (four note chord). This theory is the foundation of Western
music harmony and can be heard in Baroque, Romantic, bluegrass, swing, jazz, folk, hip-hop, rap, blues, rock, country, reggae, etc....
On the following charts, the uppercase Roman numeral indicates a major chord while the lowercase numeral indicates a minor chord.
µ
Triads:
I
iii
vi
vii
ii
IV
V
I
w w w
w w w
w w w
4 4 w w
w w w
w w w
w w
C
D
m
E
m
F
G
A
m
B
dim
C
w w w
&
w
w
Chords
in C Major
0
1
0 3
T
0
2
0 3
2 5
0 3
2 5
3
A
2 5
0 3
2 5
3
5
B
5
#
w w w
w w w #
w w w
G
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
m
m
m
dim
w w w #
& w
w w w
w w w #
w w
w w
w
Chords
in G Major
0
2
0 3
2 5
0
2
0 4
2 5
0 4
2 5
4
5
0 4
2 5
4
5
J
º
J
J
7
7
7
7
7th Chords:
I
IV
vii
ii
vi
iii
V
I
(
)
w w w
b
w w w
w w
w w w
w w
w w w
C
Maj7
w
w w w
w w
B
m7
5
& w w w w
w
C
Maj7
D
m7
E
m7
F
Maj7
G
7
A
m7
w w
w
w
w
Chords
in C Major
0
1
0 3
1 5
0 3 7
2
0 3
2 5
0
3
2 5
0 3
2 5
3
2 5
0 3
2 5
3
5
5
(
)
#
b
#
w w w
w w w
w w w
w w
w w w
G
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
Maj7
m7
m7
Maj7
7
m7
m7
Maj7
w w
5
& w w
w w w
w
w w #
w w #
w w #
w #
w
w
w
Chords
in G Major
0
2
0
2
0 3
2 5
0 3
2 5
0 4
2 5
0 4
2 5
0 4
2 5
4
5
0 4
2 5
4
5
- 2013
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