Building different types of major chords on guitar

In this lesson you are going to learn how to build different types of Major Chords, starting with the basic Major Chord to a Major 9th Chord.

For the purpose of explanation I am using the first Major Scale in western music, everyone’s favorite C Major Scale.

Note: Please refer back to this scale diagram while learning each chord

Major Chord

Major chord is built by combining the Root (1st) + 3rd + 5th degrees or notes of the Major Scale, In this case – the C Major Scale.

So we get the C Major Chord notes as C-E-G

The interval from C to E is 2 Whole Tones or Whole Steps and it is known as a Major Third. And the interval from E to G is 1 Whole Tone and a Half Tone, which is known as a Minor Third.

When we combine the Major Third and Minor Third we get a Major Triad or a Major Chord.

The formula for building a Major Chord is 1-3-5 or Major Third + Minor Third.

Major Chord can be denoted as C Major or C Maj Or just C.

Click the link to learn 12 Different Chord Voicings for C Major Chord.

Major 6th Chord

The Major 6th Chord is built by adding the 6th degree or note of the Major Scale to the Major Triad or the Major Chord.

In C Major Scale, we just need to add the 6th note (A) along with C-E-G and we get the C Major 6th Chord as C-E-G-A

So the formula for building a Major 6th Chord is 1-3-5-6

Major 6th Chord can be denoted as C6, CM6, or CMaj6

Click the link to learn 12 different chord voicings for C Major 6th Chord

Major 7th Chord

The Major 7th Chord is built by adding the 7th degree or note of the Major Scale to the Major Triad or the Major Chord.

In C Major Scale, we just need to add the 7th note (B) along with C-E-G and we get the C Major 7th Chord as C-E-G-B

So the formula for building a Major 7th Chord is 1-3-5-7

Major 7th Chord can be denoted as C7, CM7, or CMaj7

Click the link to learn 12 different chord voicings for C Major 7th Chord

Major 9th Chord

The Major 9th Chord is built by adding the 9th degree or note of the Major Scale to the Major 7th Chord.

In C Major Scale, we just need to add the 9th note (D) along with C-E-G-B, which is the C Maj 7 chord and we get the C Major 9th Chord as C-E-G-B-D

So the formula for building a Major 9th Chord is 1-3-5-7-9

The Major 9th Chord can be denoted as C9, CM9, or CMaj9

Click the link to learn 12 different chord voicings for C Major 9th Chord

Building different types of minor chords on guitar

In this lesson you will learn how to build different types of Minor Chords, starting with the basic Minor Chord to a Minor 9th Chord.

I am using the C Major Scale here also for explaining the Minor Chords.

Minor Chord

Minor chord is built by combining the Root (1st) + Flattened 3rd (denoted as ‘b’ after the note) + 5th degrees or notes of the Major Scale, In this case – the C Major Scale.

Note: Flattening a note means lowering it a half step or a half tone.

So we get the C Minor Chord notes as C-Eb- G

The interval from C to Eb is 1 ½ Tones and is known as a Minor Third. And the interval from Eb to G is 2 Whole Tones, which is known as a Major Third.

When we combine the Minor Third and Major Third together, we get a Minor Triad or a Minor Chord.

Hence, the formula for building a Minor Chord is 1-b3-5 or stacking together a Minor Third + Major Third, which is exactly the opposite of a Major Chord formula where we combine a Major Third and Minor Third to build a Major Chord.

Minor Chord can be denoted as C minor or C min Or Cm

Minor 6th Chord

The Minor 6th Chord is built by adding the 6th degree or note of the Major Scale to the Minor Triad or the Minor Chord.

In the case of C Major Scale, we just need to add the 6th note (A) along with C-Eb-G (minor triad or minor chord) to build the C Minor 6th Chord as C-Eb-G-A

So we derived the formula for building a Major 6th Chord as 1-b3-5-6

Minor 6th Chord can be denoted as Cm6, Cmin6, or C minor 6

Minor 7th Chord

The Minor 7th Chord is built by adding the Flattened 7th degree or note of the Major Scale to the Minor Triad or the Minor Chord.

In C Major Scale, we just need to add the Flattened 7th note (Bb) to C-Eb-G and we get the C Minor 7th Chord as C-Eb-G-Bb

So the formula for building a Minor 7th Chord is 1-b3-5-b7

Minor 7th Chord can be denoted as Cmin7, C minor 7, or Cm7

Minor 9th Chord

The Minor 9th Chord is built by adding the 9th degree or note of the Major Scale to the Minor 7th Chord.

In C Major Scale, we just need to add the 9th note (D) along with C-Eb-G-Bb, which is the C min 7 chord and we get the C minor 9th Chord as C-Eb-G-Bb-D

So the formula for building a Minor 9th Chord is 1-b3-5-b7-9

The Minor 9th Chord can be denoted as Cmin9, Cm9, or C Minor 9

Building different types of dominant chords on guitar

In the last 2 lessons we learned how to derive different types of major chords and minor chords. I am sure those lessons were useful enough in enhancing your knowledge on guitar chords.

In this lesson I am sharing my knowledge on deriving different types of dominant chords – Dominant 7th, 9th, 11th and 13th and playing them on guitar. Just like the other two chord types (major and minor chords) that we learned in the previous 2 lessons, Dominant chords are also derived from a Major Scale.

For the purpose of explanation I am using the same old C Major Scale here too.

Dominant 7th Chord

Dominant 7th chord is very similar to a Major 7th chord and it shares almost the same intervals or notes of a Major 7th chord, except that the 7th degree is lowered a half step (flattened). In C Major Scale that would be a B flat.

The formula for building a Dominant 7th Chord is 1-3-5-b7; this is nothing but a Major Triad (1-3-5) combined with a flattened 7th degree.

Applying this chord formula on the C Major Scale gives us the C Dominant 7th Chord notes as C-E-G-Bb.

Dominant 7th chord can be denoted in multiple ways, for e.g. CDom7, C7, C Dominant Seventh or C Dominant 7th.

Dominant 9th Chord

If you know how to derive a Dominant 7th chord, building a dominant 9th chord is super easy. All you need to do is add the 9th degree of the major scale to it. In C Major Scale that would be the note D.

Formula for building a Dominant 9th chord is 1-3-5-b7-9.

Applying it on the C Major Scale yields a C Dominant 9th Chord as C-E-G-Bb-D

Dominant 9th Chord is denoted in multiple ways for e.g. CDom9, C9, C Dominant 9th, C Dominant Ninth.

Dominant 11th Chord

Dominant 11th Chords can be easily built by adding the 11th degree of the major scale to the Dominant 9th chord. In case of C Major Scale, the 11th degree is the note F.

Formula for building Dominant 11th chord is 1-3-5-b7-9-11.

Note: Since there are more than 5 notes for this chord, it is practically difficult to include all of them in the chord voicing using our fingers on the fret board, so omitting one or two notes is OK. The same applies to the Dominant 13th chord also.

By applying this chord formula on C Major Scale yields a C Dominant 11th chord as C-E-G-Bb-D-F

Dominant 11th chord can be denoted as C11, Cdom11, C Dominant Eleventh or C Dominant 11th

Dominant 13th Chord

This chord is also pretty easy to build! All you need to do is just add the 13th degree of the major scale to a Dominant 11th chord, and you get a Dominant 13th chord. In case of C Major Scale the 13th degree is the note A.

The Dominant 13th chord formula is 1-3-5-b7-9-11-13

By applying this formula on the C Major Scale, we get the C Dominant 13th chord as C-E-G-Bb-D-F-A.

Dominant 13th chord can also be denoted in different ways, for e.g. C13, Cdom13, C Dominant Thirteenth or C Dominant 13th.

Building different types of diminished chords on guitar

In the last 3 lessons we checked out different types of major chords, minor chords and dominant chords. Here you will learn Diminished chords and how to build 3 different types of diminished chords – Diminished, Diminished 7th and Half Diminished Chords on guitar.

The scale remains the same for explanation, yes, everyone’s favorite – the C Major Scale!

Diminished Chord

A Diminished chord is quite similar to a Minor Triad (1-b3-5) but differs with a flattened 5th degree or also, it can be seen as a Major Triad with flattened 3rd and 5th degrees.

The formula for building a Diminished Chord is 1-b3-b5.

By applying this formula on the C Major Scale, we can derive a C Diminished Chord notes as C-Eb-Gb

A Diminished Chord can be denoted as Cdim or C Diminished

Diminished Seventh Chord

Adding a double flattened 7th degree from the major scale to the Diminished Chord Triad yields a Diminished 7th Chord or a Fully Diminished 7th Chord.

Note: Double flattening just means that you lower a note by 2 semitones (2 frets) or a whole tone.

The formula for building a Diminished Seventh chord is 1-b3-b5-bb7

Applying this formula on the C Major Scale gives us a C Diminished 7th Chord as C-Eb-Gb-A (Lowering the B note twice or a whole tone gives us the A note).

Diminished 7th chord can be represented as Cdim7 or C Diminished 7

Half Diminished Chord

Unlike the fully diminished chord, a Half Diminished Chord has the 7th degree lowered just ONCE. That’s the only difference between a fully and Half Diminished Chords! But a half diminished chord is also the same as a Minor 7th Chord with a Flattened 5. So the half diminished chord is more popularly known as m7b5 than its real name.

The formula for building a half diminished chord is 1-b3-b5-b7.

By applying this formula on the C Major Scale we get the C Half Diminished or Cmin7b5 chord as C-Eb-Gb-Bb.

A half diminished chord is represented as Cm7b5 or Cmin7b5 or C Half Diminished.

I hope this lesson could unravel the mystery behind the diminished chords to a moderate extend. In the next lesson we will check out the Augmented and Suspended Chords.

Building an augmented chord and different types of suspended chords on guitar

In the last 4 lessons we learned how to derive major chords, minor chords, dominant chords and diminished chords on guitar. In this lesson we will learn how to derive an Augmented chord and 2 types of Suspended chords.

These scales can be derived from a Major Scale. And yet again, the Major Scale I am using for explanation is the same old C Major Scale!

Augmented Chord

An Augmented Chord is quite similar to a Major Chord with the only difference of a raised 5th degree in the scale interval (1-3-5#), where as a Major Chord Triad interval is 1-3-5. An augmented Chord creates a tensed tone and won’t sound that good to our ears and always tend to resolve to a much sweet sounding Major or Minor Chord.

And the formula for building an Augmented Chord is 1-3-5#

Applying this formula on the C Major Scale gives us a C Augmented Chord as C – E – G#

An Augmented chord is denoted as C aug or C Augmented.

Suspended Chords

Suspended or Sus Chords have an unconventional scale intervals, where a minor 3rd (1-3b) or a major 3rd (1-3) is replaced with a major 2nd (1-2) or a perfect 4th (1-4). Since there is an absence of a minor 3rd or a major 3rd in this chord, it creates a tensed sound just like an Augmented chord, but at the same time the semi-tone (or minor 2nd) interval between 1st and 2nd or 4th and 5th degree of notes gives rise to a dissonant tone – not so soothing for our ears.

There are mainly 2 types of Suspended Chords

1. Suspended 2nd 2. Suspended 4th

Suspended 2nd Chord

In a Suspended 2nd Chord, the Major or Minor Third interval is replaced with a Major Second note.

Formula for building a Suspended 2nd Chord is 1-2-5

By applying this formula on the C Major Scale, we get a C Suspended 2nd or C Sus 2 chord as C-D-G

Suspended 4th Chord

In a Suspended 4th Chord, the Major or Minor Third interval is replaced with a Perfect 4th note.

Formula for building a Suspended 4th Chord is 1-4-5

By applying this formula on the C Major Scale, we get a C Suspended 4th or C Sus 4 chord as C-F-G

I hope you found these lessons useful to know how to build different type of Chords on guitar - clearly.

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