Basic Music Theory Lesson 6: Chords, Harmonizing the C major scale with basic triads

In this lesson, you are going to have to start using some of the concepts learned in lessons 1 – 5.

What we are going to do is “harmonize” the C major scale.
To harmonize the scale, we simply take the 1st 3rd and 5th note of the C scale and spell them out.

C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C

C E G

Then we start again from the 2nd note in the scale and again count the 1st 3rd and 5th note from that point.

C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C

D F A

Again from the 3rd note in the scale, count the 1st 3rd and 5th note from that point.

C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C

E G B

Continue to do this all the way to the 7th note in the scale and you end up with these triads:

C E G
D F A
E G B
F A C
G B D
A C E
B D F

Now the fun begins. You will remember from lesson 5 that C E G (1 3 5)  made up the major chord in the key of C.

So, what are all the other ones? Lets start with D F A

First, lets spell out the major scale that starts on D. (see lesson 3)

D E F# G A B C# D

The scales 3rd note is F#. Our triads 3rd note is F. The note F is a flatted 3rd (b3) in the D major scale.

D F A = 1 b3 5 out of our D major scale. 1 b3 and 5 = minor triad

Therefore, D F A = D minor

Look at E G B

Again, lets spell out the major scale that starts on E.

E F# G# A B C# D# E

The scales 3rd note is G#. Our triads 3rd note is G. The note G is a flatted 3rd (b3) in the E major scale.

E G B = 1 b3 5 out of our E major scale. 1 b3 and 5 = minor triad

Therefore, E G B = E minor

Exercise: Using the same procedure, do the next 4 triads yourself.

F A C
G B D
A C E
B D F

If you’ve done it right, you will find the following chords are the result of this exercise:

F A C Major
G B D Major
A C E Minor
B D F Diminished

If we put them all together now, we end up with:

This order of chords will result regardless which major scale you harmonize in triads. Knowing this is very useful for several reasons.

1) If you are asked to play a 2 5 1 chord progression in any key, with a little thought, you now can.

A 2 5 1 chord progression in the key of C is D Minor, G Major, C Major.

Exercise: What is a 2 5 1 in the key of G?

2) Another reason is that if you want to transpose a song from its existing key to another that better matches your vocal range, you can do this as well. Suppose that a song on a chart has the following chord progression in the key of C.

C Major     G Major     A Minor     F Major

Now suppose that you are way more comfortable singing in the key of D ( C is just a little to low for you ).

To transpose this, we simply determine what number in the key of C these chords represent. We find that:

C Major     G Major     A Minor     F Major  =  1  5  6  4 in the key of C.

Now apply those numbers to the key of D and you will find that:

1  5  6  4 in the key of D =  D Major     A Major     B Minor     G Major

Exercise: Transpose  the progression C Major   G Major   A Minor   F Major   into the key of E.

3) From the standpoint of improvisation, it is very useful to know the relationship between chords and scales. We won’t really get into this now other than to say that if you played the 1 5 6 4 progression we just mentioned in the key of C, the C Major scale can be played over that whole chord progression as these chords are all made up of notes from that scale. Much more on this later in the lesson on “the modes”.

© Synaptic Systems Inc., 1999