Chords and me being confused

L

lasseee

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hi everyone :hello:
i just decided to read up on chords but im not quite sure if ive got it yet.
if i have to make this chord sequence in in the c major scale:

I - iii - vi - IV - ii - V- I

then the rootkey for iii is E right? if yes, why is iii a minor when its rootkey is not a minor?
Im just a little confused sorry :)
 
i had this exact problem and done a ton of reading from all different sources and made my own little guide for everthing to do with chord progressions (since i have never found a definitive guide for the n00b).
ok, according to my guide,

the iii is minor because:
the chord (the third triad in this case) is E,G,B.
The distance determines whether something is minor, major, augmented or diminished.
in this case, the G is exactly 3 keys from E (do not take the scales notes into account, you include ALL keys, black and white). it goes E, F, Gb, G. therefore the third is minor.
if the fifth (the third key of the chord, in this case B) is exactly 7 from the root key (E) then that is a perfect fifth, which means the triad will be whatever the third was (we calculated minor since G is 3 keys away from E). in this case the fifth is indeed perfect, as B lies 7 keys or half-steps (every key is a half-step to the key immediately next to it) away from E.
In the first example (I), the triad is major (indicated by uppercase I). this is because the chord is C,E,G. E in this case is not 3 (which is minor) but 4 keys or half-steps away from C.
so for the second key, 3 half-steps from the root note indicates a minor third (second key) and 4 indicates a major third.
if the fifth (the third key of the chord) is exactly seven keys (dont take into account the scale you are in) from the root note, that chord is perfect, and it is either minor or major, whatever the second key is.

This is not in your example, but sometimes there is a little circle next to the numeral, or a plus sign.
if the fifth (the third key) is 6 half-steps ahead of the root, it is a diminished triad (regardless of what the third [second key] is). in this case you write the numeral in lower-case and add a little circle next to it. if the fifth is 8 half-steps (instead of a perfect 7) from the root, it is augmented, and the corresponding numeral is written in uppercase and a little plus sign is added to the right of the numeral.

as you can see, if a triad is minor in a major scale it does not matter....

man i hope some of that made sense... good luck!
 
lasseee said:
hi everyone :hello:
i just decided to read up on chords but im not quite sure if ive got it yet.
if i have to make this chord sequence in in the c major scale:

I - iii - vi - IV - ii - V- I

then the rootkey for iii is E right? if yes, why is iii a minor when its rootkey is not a minor?
Im just a little confused sorry :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, just to add. You cannot have a root key that is minor or Major, it's just the root of the chord. In the case of a Major v/s minor triad chord, it is the 3rd that decides Major or minor. And in the case of a minor triad, the 3rd is always one semitone lower than a Major triad.

If you look at the C scale, CDEFGABC, all the white notes, the diatonic chords built on each note must be made using white notes. Therefore, if the iii chord in this scale were to be a III chord, ie: a Major chord, it would need these notes: EG#B, since there is no sharps or flats in the C scale, the chords 3rd must be a minor 3rd and not a Major.

There's not just Major chords in Major scales like has been said.
 
konartis said:
i had this exact problem and done a ton of reading from all different sources and made my own little guide for everthing to do with chord progressions (since i have never found a definitive guide for the n00b).
ok, according to my guide,

the iii is minor because:
the chord (the third triad in this case) is E,G,B.
The distance determines whether something is minor, major, augmented or diminished.
in this case, the G is exactly 3 keys from E (do not take the scales notes into account, you include ALL keys, black and white). it goes E, F, Gb, G. therefore the third is minor.
if the fifth (the third key of the chord, in this case B) is exactly 7 from the root key (E) then that is a perfect fifth, which means the triad will be whatever the third was (we calculated minor since G is 3 keys away from E). in this case the fifth is indeed perfect, as B lies 7 keys or half-steps (every key is a half-step to the key immediately next to it) away from E.
In the first example (I), the triad is major (indicated by uppercase I). this is because the chord is C,E,G. E in this case is not 3 (which is minor) but 4 keys or half-steps away from C.
so for the second key, 3 half-steps from the root note indicates a minor third (second key) and 4 indicates a major third.
if the fifth (the third key of the chord) is exactly seven keys (dont take into account the scale you are in) from the root note, that chord is perfect, and it is either minor or major, whatever the second key is.

This is not in your example, but sometimes there is a little circle next to the numeral, or a plus sign.
if the fifth (the third key) is 6 half-steps ahead of the root, it is a diminished triad (regardless of what the third [second key] is). in this case you write the numeral in lower-case and add a little circle next to it. if the fifth is 8 half-steps (instead of a perfect 7) from the root, it is augmented, and the corresponding numeral is written in uppercase and a little plus sign is added to the right of the numeral.

as you can see, if a triad is minor in a major scale it does not matter....

man i hope some of that made sense... good luck!
Click to expand...
thanks for the help :victory:

if i put in the chords in reason it seems that theres the same distance between all the chords. the only difference between the majors and the minors is that the minors third(which actually is the secondth) is on a black note. if i dont count the black notes then the minors third note is the third from E and the majors second note is the secondth. ARGH, its hard to explain when i dont know if i should call it the second or third note cause it really is the third or something.. whatever take a look at the file i attached :)
 
All of those chords in your attachment are major chords, as explained above, there are four semitones between the root and the third, meaning the chord is major. Just flatten the third so it's only three semitones above the root, and you have a minor chord. If your diatonic chord progression is in C, then it should only include notes from the C scale, CDEFGABC (ie, only white keys, no black keys). Diatonic chords are built by stacking thirds. So from the C scale, first chord is C, E, G, (I - major), second is D, F, A (ii - minor), third is E, G, B (iii - minor), and so on. If you stack another third on top of these chords, you end up with 7th chords. The same goes for any key. www.musictheory.net explains some stuff quite well.
 
Yeah, you have got that wrong. If you are after the basic triad chords for the C scale, there isn't a DMaj an EMaj or an AMaj chord in this scale or a BMaj.

What you have done is simply transpose the first chord, that's not how it works. Like I said, the C scale is built using the white notes starting on C, look at your chords there and count how many black notes you have. They are foreign to the scale and you should grasp this before delving into using 'borrowed chords'.

The chords you should have are, CMaj,Dmin,Emin,FMaj,GMaj,Amin,Bdim.
These chords are all made using white notes only, and those notes are all in the C scale.

Go here: http://chordmaps.com/ the very thing that is confusing you is discussed in a way that is very easy to understand. You will get your head around it very quickly.
 
i think my problem is that i dont know what a semitone is. all i see is that there are 3 notes between the root and the third and 2 notes between the one on the top, and the third in ii is already flattened?
english is not my first languish so i dont really know the meaning behind semitones and all that stuff. i do know what notes are and i think i know what keys are :D

but hey look at what i attached i think its how it should look but i dont know why:confused:
 
A semitone is an interval. In western music, it is the smallest division. Any major scalefollows a sequence of notes, with the following intervals: 2-2-1-2-2-2-1
So for the C major scale, that means:
C (2 semi-tones to) D (2 semi-tones to) E (1 semi-tone to) F (2 semi-tones to) G (2 semi-tones to) A (2 semi-tones to) B (1 semi-tone to get back to) C.

You have to use these exact notes to make your diatonic chords. Your drawing is correct up to the sixth chord.

The seventh chord is special: The root is B. A third up is D. Another third up is F. So the chord is B-D-F. You will notice that from B to D is 3 intervals or semi-tones, and from D to F is another 3 intervals or semi-tones. So this chord is neither minor (3 intervals + 4 intervals) or major (4 intervals + 3 intervals). It's a diminished chord.
 
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