59
Play a chord, following the Light Guide.

The display indicates the notes of the

GM7 chord, and the Light Guide indi-

cates which keys to play on the

keyboard.

The chord name flashes in the display

(and a “congratulations” melody is

played) when the correct notes are

held down.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • What is a Chord? • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

The simple answer: Three or more notes played simultaneously is a chord. (Two
notes played together is an “interval” — an interval being the distance between two
different notes. This is also referred to as a “harmony.”) Depending on the intervals
between the three or more notes, a chord can sound beautiful or muddy and dissonant.
The organization of notes in the example at left — a triad
chord — produces a pleasant, harmonious sound. Triads
are made up of three notes and are the most basic and
common chords in most music.
In this triad, the lowest note is the “root.” The root is the most important note in the
chord, because it anchors the sound harmonically by determining its “key” and forms
the basis for how we hear the other notes of the chord.
The second note of this chord is four semitones higher than the first, and the third is
three semitones higher than the second. Keeping our root note fixed and changing these
notes by a semitone up or down (sharp or flat), we can create four different chords.
Keep in mind that we can also change the “voicing” of a chord — for example, change
the order of the notes (called “inversions”), or play the same notes in different octaves
— without changing the basic nature of the chord itself.
Beautiful sounding harmonies can be built in this manner. The use of intervals and
chords is one of the most important elements in music. A wide variety of emotions
and feelings can be created depending on the types of chords used and the order in
which they are arranged.
Major chord
(ex. C) Minor chord
(ex. Cm) Augmented chord
(ex. Caug) Diminished chord
(ex. Cdim)
Minor 3rd Major 3rd Major 3rd Minor 3rd Major 3rd Major 3rd Minor 3rd Minor 3rd
Inversion examples for the key of C
G
E
C
C
G
E
E
C
G