How Basic Chords Work - Music Theory Lesson 1

UPDATE: Hello, this is Present Day Michael. I would like to point out that Past Michael chose his words poorly when he said "this chord doesn't work", and that statement has led to much anger and confusion throughout the eons (well since 2011 anyway). What he SHOULD have said was "by moving notes closer together than a minor third or farther apart than a major third, you're creating an entirely new chord that you're almost definitely not expecting, and you should watch this video https://youtu.be/Nr2XBoanNJY to understand the crazy nonsense that's happening here." The great thing about improvised YouTube videos that unexpectedly become popular is that you can never change a single thing about them ever. Present Day Michael apologizes profusely for Past Michael's mistakes.
END OF TIME-WARPING UPDATE

Check me out on Patreon if you want to help me make more of these: http://patreon.com/michaelnew

Next up, check out how rhythm works: http://youtu.be/Utzyi4gfBDE
or more about chords: http://youtu.be/3tbK2jtVRM8
or how major and minor keys work: http://youtu.be/rHlWP-nc4tM

This lesson is on chords, how they work, and the basic intervals that make them up. Learning the underlying music theory behind chords will not only allow you to find any chord you want, anywhere you want, it will also give you a solid foundation to build your entire understanding of music theory on.

I have a bachelor's in music (I took about a billion theory courses), and I'm a full time music teacher. After trying to help so many people learn music theory, I've decided that this is the best, most useful and most easily understood way into music theory. You don't need to know anything about music to get started on this, other than the names of the notes (and if you don't know that then google it; it's cake). Have fun.

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Closed Caption:

ok oh I wanted to do a little music
theory lesson on chords and just wonder
how they work specifically chord names
and how to know what you're looking at
whenever you see a different court
written out how to know exactly what
that means and how to sort of put those
notes together and how to play it
the the approach that a lot of people
take to learning chords I'm they'll sort
of see something up
no stay like that and just kind of
memorize that cord
he's one of the time on ok when i see
that i need to play those three notes or
uh you know if you saw something like
that you know that ok that means that i
play right there and that's fine that
works for a while but it turns out to be
pretty limiting especially when you get
farther along
music we start to learn a lot more
chords of different keys or you start to
get into more advanced chords
it just turns into so many different
things to try to remember
and if you were to see a chord say say
something like that
odds are you're not going to know what
that means there's just so many
different advanced chords and things are
trying to memorize that it just gets to
be overwhelming but if you know how this
system works you know what these names
mean and how they work
then this is simple there's really
nothing to that court you know exactly
what to do there
really right away so that's what I want
to kind of break down and there's
actually a bigger reason to learn how
the coursework and that's just sort of
understanding music in general if you
want to learn music theory and just kind
of how it all works
this is a great way to get into it I'm
learning how these courts fit and
healthy interact
that's going to let you just sort of
improvised and compose and just sort of
lets you understand how this music fits
and it's just a really really wonderful
thing to to get a hold up
so we'll get started we'll start with
the real simple and we'll just start
this one right here in kind of a kind of
work our way up from there
so let's take that cord and i want to
show you how this is going to work
anytime you see your core doesn't matter
how advanced is there's always just two
parts to it
there's a business first part right here
this is what's called the the root of
the chord in the route is just one
single note is the note that any kind of
starts on and it's not you're going to
kind of measure everything else against
you're going to use that note to find
the other stuff in the cord so to find
the root of the chord you just kind of
find the note and then you got nothing
to that but it's this next part here
this is because the court quality of
this is where things get a little more
involved this is what I want want to
kind of break down
so what this does this tells you what
the other notes in the quarter going to
be but it doesn't actually tell you what
they are directly
it just tells you how far away they are
from your root note
so to find these notes you have to know
how to measure distance in music and in
the way you measure distances you use
something called an interval now
intervals are just how far apart two
notes are they trying to be pretty
simple so let me show you a few of those
what kind of get going that way
so the first interval you want to know
is a what's called a half step half step
is just two notes that are right next to
each other
so for instance like C sharp those are
right next to each other is a half step
sharp to G
that's a half step any one of those two
notes that are right next to each other
those are a half step apart
now that the one spot was a little bit
weird is right here you don't have these
two notes are also a half step
they are right next to each other
there's nothing in between so we have
stuff but if you're kind of just looking
at the whiteness that can look kind of
strange you know these two are a half
step apart but these two or not there's
something in between those
so just make sure that in that little
area there you kind of know how that
works but other than that have some real
simple and then you can find this anyway
so once you have that that's kind of one
of the basic building blocks there's
another one you need and that's what's
called a whole step whole step is kind
of just what you think it's just two
half steps
so we started the note and you want to
go up a whole step half step
you have another half step and then you
have your your whole step
now when you're looking for these you
don't really want to have to count up
you don't want to be thinking you know
half step half step every time you want
to see these right away
so what you're kind of looking for here
is you just look for this little shape
or you have two notes with 1 note in
between is kinda see that and this gets
to be real easy
he also right here here's another .
here's your one note in between there
where those places . now the one weird
spot is going to be like right in here
right in here where you get this
now this is a whole step here's your one
in between but it looks a little strange
at first so just make sure that you're
comfortable with just kind of have a
whole step works in that area
and and that's pretty much it those two
are going to use to kind of find any
other intervals in these bigger ones
so as long as you're comfortable with
that then figuring out this cord should
be pretty simple
so let's actually get into what this
means
this right here this is this name and
this Court quality is going to tell you
what these other notes are now this is
what's called a simple chord sister is a
triad is just has three notes in it and
the first we've already got it set up so
this is just telling you where these
other two notes are now that the first
one we're going to start of RF already
have that one figure out but the first
night we need is going to be up above
somewhere is going to be a major third
higher and that's kind of what this name
is coming from this major here saying
your next note up needs to be a major
through higher now a major third is just
an interval in the same way that that a
whole step half step is an interval
now this interval is two whole steps
that's what a major third is like the
definition of a major third
so if you want to go up major third say
we're starting our F
mmm
you're going to go over a whole step
that will put you right here here's a 10
in between and you go
another whole step but you're right
there is that one in between there you
go
is your major third and it doesn't
matter doesn't matter what instrument
you're on or where you start whatever
know it's always going to be the same
thing
a major third is two whole steps in the
same sense that foot is 12 inches so we
can start anywhere else we can start on
starting tonight and we go up a
whole-step another whole step up with
you right there and there's a major
third you can start saying this is a
flat go up a whole-step another one
there's a major really now
same with the with the whole step you
don't really want to have to count your
weight through this this is shown you
this to start with but you want to get
good just kind of seeing those just kind
of looking for that powder kind of
seeing those those two whole steps right
away so it'd be great to just kind of
spend a little while to sort of trying
to find those real quickly just sort of
starting on random notes and and spend a
little while in these little areas this
is where things tend to look a little
bit strange just because of that little
fine business around these notes so
there's your major third there's a major
third sort of just can't get used to but
after a little while
it's pretty easy so there's our major
third we started on the half that was
our root note and this told us that we
need to go up a major third to get to
our next note and that's two out of
three notes already
now there's one more note of this cord
and that node is going to be up a little
higher
it's going to be up here somewhere I
don't know what it is yet so just leave
it like that and it's going to be what's
called a perfect fifth higher than s a
perfect fifth is just another interval
in the same sense that a major third is
an interval
it's a bigger one this one is going to
be three whole steps and half steps and
i'll show you how to kind of find that
the second but first you may be thinking
okay I understand how this would be
telling you that you need to do a major
third that sort of makes sense but
there's nothing in this coordinate that
really says anything about a perfect
fifth
do you think okay how do I know that I'm
supposed to do a perfect fifth and the
way this works
just about every course you do is going
to have a fifth in it
they almost always have a perfect fit um
and so it would be kind of nice if this
court was called you know F major third
perfect fit that bill
ok that tells you exactly what you need
to do over here but almost every Court
has this and so usually just leave this
off
most course just kind of tell you this
part and they don't really tell you
anything about the fifth and whenever
that happens you just assume that you
need to have a perfect fit for the cord
now there are times when you're fit is
going to be different you can do so like
a altered fit called like a diminished
fit an Augmented fifth or something like
that but if that ever happens the court
is going to tell you that it will
specifically say diminished or augment
or something like that to change his
fifth if it doesn't say anything about
it
you just assume that you have a perfect
fifth and you kinda get used to that
pretty quickly
so anyway we have our 30 figure that out
now we need to find this perfect fifth
and like I said it's just three whole
steps and half
that so if we start from start from this
F again we start counting over here is a
whole step
there's one another whole step is to
another whole step 3
this last little half step that takes us
right there and that gives the surface
now same as the third and you don't
really want to have to count through
this you will look first to kind of be
used to wear this is but you want to
just be able to see this right away but
this is kind of a bigger interval and it
can be kind of hard to to count all the
way up with something like this
so there's a real simple pattern you can
kind of look for on a piano that makes
this really easy to find if you start on
a white note and you sort of skip over
31 notes and you wind up right here
that should give you a perfect fit right
here - right there i have those three
white notes in between there is your
perfect fifth thing also really anywhere
you start you should just be having
those three notes right in between that
makes that really easy to find if you
were to start on a black note like here
you want to have exactly 2 black notes
in between so you should be seeing that
and that would be really easy to find to
the best to in between and you've got
your perfect
so that works great the only time that
doesn't actually work is when you start
on the note B or B flat if you start on
being you try to do that little pattern
to kind of skip over these three you
want up right here and if you look at it
this actually isn't quite far enough if
you start from here you go up a
whole-step go up another whole step
another whole step you wind up with
three whole steps between here and here
and that's not quite enough you actually
need three whole steps and half steps to
make a perfect fit
so you need to go all the way up to
there and the reason for that is just
because there's these two spots where
there's no black note and that means
that these notes are kind of squish
closer together than they would be if
you were saying over here is actually
more notes in between these two
so that's the one spot where it's going
to be weird you have to kind of watch
out for that so we go all the way up to
here and there is a perfect fifth and
then for B flat if you try to go to this
black note to put these two in between
you have kind of the same problem this
is actually gonna be too wide
you've got all these extra notes kind of
crammed in here so you need to do this
and that will give you your perfect fit
so most cases it's really easy to find
but just watch out for be if you start
on be
we gotta kinda remember that need to be
doing that or if you start a brief lat
you go right there so longer used to
that these these fits get real easy
so anywhere you start from like save for
our port here
you know first thing you'll find is your
major 3rd and 4th at fifth just here to
there should be able to see those three
notes in between
you pretty much go so that's our major
chord
well and and this is going to work for
any any root note and you can put any
kind of note in here
this is not going to change this is like
the definition of what a major chord is
so this is not able to change so it is
let's say we started on C sharp we would
start right here and here is our new
root note but we're going to go up a
major third that will take you from
there too right there and then you're
going to have your perfect fit so from
here
- right there you can kind of see here's
these two with those 2 black notes in
between
did you c sharp major right there we can
start on G is our third and then a
perfect fifth
anywhere you want to start from this is
not going to change
ok so there's a major chord and that's
probably the most common chord you're
going to see now quick little note a lot
of times since this is such a common
port a lot of times you'll see it
written
just like that is just a single note and
what's happening here is just kind of
the the court quality is just being left
off completely figured that a major
chord is kind of your default core if
you just see a core like f4d sharp
assume that it's a major chord such a
common thing that this sort of gets left
off the next we're going to do is a
minor chord and if if a court is going
to be a minor chord it has to say minor
you can't just put an F and in imagine
that it's a minor chord this would mean
major chord is kind of your default but
let's go ahead and do the minor chord of
once we have the major chord a minor
chord is really easy
so let's say we actually wanted to do
this
this time alright so for a minor chord
for now we have the same root notes
we're gonna start an F again but our
quality is different
this is telling you that now you need a
minor through that's why this is minor
very minor third here now a minor third
is just another interval and there's
actually a lot of intervals that sort of
have these two versions you have sort of
a major version in a minor version for a
third major third minor third there's
also an interval of a second there is a
major second in a minor second
theres also 6 you have a major six and
wider 6 in the 7th of the major seventh
in a minor seventh and in understanding
a minor is really easy
it's always just a half step lower than
the major interval so if our major third
was a two whole steps
that are minor third is just going to be
a full stephanie has just one half step
back
so if you're if you're pretty familiar
with this major third by now that funny
good lawyers should be really easy
really good change that and that gives
us our minor through that's all you
really need
now up here there's nothing about the
fifth here again and so you're just
going to assume that you still need a
perfect fifth
so this isn't going to change we start
on that you know how we have a minor
third so that's a whole step and a half
step introduced a half step lower than a
major third
that's going to put you right here and
then the perfect fifth isn't gonna
change their they're still perfect
that's going to be the same thing so
that right there is your f minor chord
the same deal that's going to work on
any root note you want to start from
so let's say we were doing d flat start
on a flat go up a minor third remember
be careful in this little area things
look strange but there's your whole step
and a half step and then for your fifth
same deal here to here here's those 2
black notes in between and there you
have your flat
ok so those two chords the major and the
Minor those are by far the most common
you're going to see lots and lots of
those and even more advanced courses are
usually built kind of on top of those we
sort of adding extra notes on top but
you want to be very familiar with the
majors and minors just want to spend a
little while just kind of picking a
random to start on and just kind of
finding the rest of the core try to see
it as quickly as you can just get used
to how this whole shape works and if
you're pretty good with your intervals
you'll be able to see you made it
through my other than this should be
pretty simple
now there's two other three note chords
that i want to show you
and these are these are a little less
common but they do still happen and
they're still good court so i'm gonna
show you those i'm going to start with
call the diminished chord and we'll pick
a different reason of this time let's
say we'll start on a bit so we're going
to do is called a diminished
now sometimes you'll see the minister in
like this sometimes you'll see this
little circle thing that means the same
thing that's in a diminished
for now I'm just going to leave it as is
this is built easier to remember but a
diminished now
same thing as before you have a root
note and then you have a quarter quality
so to find the root note that simple
just look for in a there's RA
now this name here this Court quality
this is actually referring to the fifth
this time to the fifth wouldn't change
much but it does for this court
so over here we were still starting on a
that's the root note and we're still
going to have a third we're going to
have you know some note here we're going
to go up to with the third but we don't
actually know what kind of 3rd that's
going to be it might be a major third of
my family so you got a second
but this interval going all the way up
to
- this note up here this is what need
this needs to be what's called a
diminished fifth direct
now diminished fifth real simple this is
just a it's just like a perfect fit but
it's a half step lower sort of the same
way that like a minor third is a half
step lower than a major third
so we're starting our note a right here
to get a perfect fifth we go from here
right there but that's not what we need
this time we need are diminished fists
are going to lower it by halves to put
it right there
now you might think okay why not just
call it a major fifth and a minor fifth
that seems like it's doing the same
thing as a third and that kinda has to
do which is how the music is set up and
how these things work but I'm kind of
think of it this way that the fifth is
not going to change very often this is a
little bit of an unusual court
you're going to see it but not that much
on so that the fifth is almost always
going to be this is it is what's called
a perfect intervals
usually that right there but the other
ones like the the third you're going to
have major thirds and minor there's all
the times are constantly being kind of
shift around so I think of that is
something is going to change a lot
this doesn't change much so you just
kind of think of it as has this one
version of this perfect fifth and every
now and then you get these sort of
altered its but they're a little bit
less usual
so anyway this diminish thing that's
referring to this your fifth becomes a
little bit lower so so far we have that
a here's a perfect fifth lower a little
bit and they have your diminishment now
this cord name is called quality doesn't
tell you anything about this
sure so you don't actually know what
kind of third you need here so you think
okay this could be a major third or it
could be a minor third but when you
start looking at it it actually turns
out that it can only be a minor third
i'll show you why
let's say that we tried to put in a
major turn thinking okay maybe this
should be a major third we have a
diminished bit so you starting you off
your major third there's a whole step
whole step so put your right there and
then we still have our diminished fifth
which was right here
you know this doesn't actually work as a
cord and there's this sort of rule about
the way courts have to work of any to
notice when you like or don't like this
any two notes can at the most be a major
third apart and at the least be a minor
third part so let's go here to there
got into that well that's a major third
and that works fine
it's no bigger or smaller than the major
30-4 so that our outfits perfect butt
from here to there
these two notes they're only a whole
step apart
that's even smaller than a minor third
and that kind of breaks that rule that
means that this can't really work as a
chord
so when you see that you got to think
okay this doesn't work it doesn't fit
that rule so I can't be using a minor 13
i would put these two notes too close
together so the only kind of 3rd you can
use is that minor there and when you do
that everything works fine
you start on a you go to hear there's
your minor 3rd and then if you compare
this note to that load that's also just
a minor third both of those work just
fine so just remember that rule when
you're kind of figuring out for words
they have any two notes have to be
either a major third partner reminder
that they can't be anything else
so when you see this you think okay that
can't work it has two peoples and that's
why there's there's nothing about the
third in this court name is because it
can only be one thing it can only be a
minor third right that industry can see
it and that's how that's how diminished
chord works
so in the same thing as before you can
start at any one do you want
like let's say you start on a
the major third and then your diminished
fit over here is your perfect fit and
finish with right there
now one thing that could maybe make it a
little easier to find his own
if you think about kind of this lines up
there's a there's a minor third between
here and there is measuring that
distance that's a minor third but when
you're doing this diminished chord you
have your minor third in your diminished
fifth
there's also a minor third between here
and there if you measure the distance
between these two notes
it's also a minor third so we're putting
together this court instead of looking
for your fifth making it a diminished
with you can just kind of compare this
note to that middle note thing okay this
needs to be a minor third
that's just how this is gonna work out
so that can sometimes be easier to see
either way it's the same thing but it
helps to sort of be able to see that
from both directions so he said you
really want to start on Stacey right
there is any flat diminish all they all
work the same by same formula no matter
what you're doing and and that's a
diminished chord pretty basic once you
get sort of how this works
there's there's one more i want to show
you out of the kind of these simple
three note chords
you know this is what's called an
augment court and this Court is pretty
unusual you really not going to see very
many of these are the major and minor
are by far the most common
you're going to see some diminished
chords they they pop up from time to
time but the Augmented chord doesn't
happen a whole lot so let's start on say
gee this time
this a lot of times get written like
this like just a plus and other times
you'll actually see the words and kind
abbreviated Aug always going to leave it
at that for enough
and so when you do an argument in court
it works a little bit like the
diminished this this quality here is
referring to have 5th again
so here's our root note starting on G
we're going to have this third still not
sure which kind is yet but we know that
our fifth going all the way up to
whatever that note is needs to be what's
called an Augmented fifth now an
Augmented fifth
is it's just a perfect fifth that is
raised by a half step this time
so if you start on G and you look for
your perfect fifth which would put your
right here
you just have to raise that by a half
step but you're right there and there's
you're all gonna fit
easy as that if you if you get confused
between these two
just remember that the word diminished
means like to make smaller kind of think
of it as being squished
so when you diminish a fifth you're
squeezing it together you know lower
when you augment something you make it
bigger sort of expanding it so it's
going to sort of pushing outwards you
get into a bigger interval
just try to keep those straight you
should be fun now
same as before this doesn't tell you
anything about the third if you look at
the way this cord works
turns out there's only one kind of 3rd
you can use if you try to use a minor
third
so you want to try that first start on G
go up your minor third put you right
here you have kind of the same problem
if you look at these two notes they work
fine but if you compare this note to
that note we're too far apart
this is this is bigger than a major
third major third from here we'll put
you right here is a whole stuff
there's a whole step your right there
and this is too far away
bigger than that so this can really work
as a cord that means that putting a
minor third into an argument court is
not going to work
the only one that's going to work is
that major thirds to go from here
go right there there's your major third
and then from here to there you are all
great fit
it's also a major third think from there
to there is a whole step there's a whole
stuff that works fine so same as before
this court doesn't tell you anything
about the third because it can only be
one thing it can only be that that major
third and that's that's how that's going
to work
same thing as before same same formula
here anywhere you start it's all going
to wind up the same way
start on a d-major third and then you
have your augment fit and the same as
the other cord -
if you if you want kind of a different
way to look at this um you know you're
gonna find your major third you're
looking for this Augmented fifth
you know when you think automated fit
your measuring from this root note here
all the way up to here but if you want
to just measure it from the second note
it should just be a major threat you can
think of it that I think okay if I need
to do an Augmented chord and go to major
third and then from here I go up another
major third or you can just think of the
other way
think ok major third from my root note
and then an Augmented fifth from the
route now anyways gonna take you to the
same place so that some that's pretty
much it for these three note chords and
all the other more advanced course you
can be built right on top of these and
then if you have a pretty solid
understanding of how these work then
those more advanced forms of for 20 or
25 no cords
there's really not a lot extra to that
it's all just sort of real simple
intervals you're going to kind of put on
top and sort of learn what these
different names mean and i think i'm
gonna leave it at that for now is
already pretty long so i'm probably
gonna do some of these other chords in
like a separate video
um so um yeah that's gonna be it if this
helped you on if its work for you then I
let me know leave me like a comment or
something like that and get thumbs up
the video or on or even subscribe if
this works for people and this is
helpful and I'm probably gonna make a
lot more
um if not then I'm probably just going
to play more starcraft 2
so let me know when I'll kind of decide
what i want to do but I'm yeah that's it
for now so I hope that helps you and I
will see you next time thanks