Introducing the Major Chord

Following on from our Major Scales lesson, this lesson will explain what Major Chords are and how to find them.

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

The keyboard above shows the notes of the C Major scale. The chord of C Major is formed by playing notes 1 3 and 5 of the scale simultaneoustly - in other words C E and G.

Finding Other Major Chords - Method 1

One way of finding other major chords is to find the major scale, as we did above, and then find notes 1, 3 and 5 of the scale.
For example, in the Major Scales lesson, we worked out the scale of D major :

D E F# G A B C# D 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Notes 1 3 and 5 of this scale are D F# and A - making the chord of D major.

Finding Other Major Chords - Method 2

The other way we can work out where a major chord is, is to count the number of semitones between the notes of a chord. Look at the keyboard above and see if you can work it out :

The answer ? 4 and 3

It's 4 semitones from C to E, and then 3 semitones from E to G.

So again, to find another major chord, take your starting note and count up four, then three semitones. Using the same D major example, it's 4 semitones, from D to F#, and 3 from F# to A.