Guitar Chord Theory
How to build chords on guitar

This series of guitar chord theory lessons will take you through how to construct chords. Guitarists often learn chords by using a chord chart, which is important, but it's also important to know, in your own mind, what's happening behind the scenes and why it sounds like that.

Equipping yourself with the knowledge in these lessons will make breaking down chords second nature, and you'll find that your songwriting takes on a new edge, as you'll be able to use voicings and progressions precisely how you want them - no more guess work or copy-cat playing.

So see the contents below for this guitar chord theory series and work through the areas you need in your own time...

Guitar chord theory basics

First off, we need to look at the major scale and how you can create major and minor chords from it. Yes, minor chords are also constructed in relation to notes from the major scale.

There's a lesson you need to take before you start learning guitar chord theory - visit the major scale page before moving on (it opens in a new window so you can reference it during this lesson).

You need to know and learn that scale - to start with learn it in the E "boxed" and A "boxed" positions (you'll know what I mean by visiting the major scale page above). That'll do for now.

The chords in these first few lessons will be built around these basic "boxed" scale patterns. We'll then expand to other scale shapes later on. One step at a time with this stuff!

So first up, triads. Triads are chords that contain three notes...

Guitar chord theory - major triads

A major triad uses 3 notes from the major scale, the Root (1), the 3rd (3) and the 5th (5). These notes make up a major chord in its simplest form.

Now, if you look on the boxed E string major scale (see it here), the first occurance of the 3rd and 5th lie on the same string, so to create a chord where all 3 notes can ring out, we need to use the higher 3rd on the G string.

Here's how a standard barre chord uses the notes from the major scale to create a major chord...

The root appears 3 times, the 5th twice and the 3rd once - but as you can see, the major chord still only has 3 main notes.

The major scale starting on the A string...

Again, lets just create a simple R 3 5 major barre chord with the root on the A string (referencing the A string "boxed" scale pattern - see it here)

Like before, we're taking those 3 notes from a corresponding major scale pattern for that chord shape (in this example, the A string boxed pattern).

Remember, don't limit yourself to E and A string barre chords just because they're most commonly used - try and find the same notes elsewhere on the fretboard for lower or higher 3rd or 5th voicings in different shapes. We'll look at chords built around more "out-of-the-box" scale patterns in a later guitar chord theory lesson. You can always get a head start and learn all the important major scale patterns and positions right here (opens in new window for you).

There are tons of major chord forms all over the fretboard. Spend some time getting to know some of these using the JamPlay chord chart.

Now lets look at building minor chords

Minor triads

We're still using the major scale for this, because chords are always labelled in relation to this natural scale.

So, the major triad was Root, 3rd and 5th

The minor triad is Root, flat 3rd and 5th

If we play an E string barre chord like before, but as a flat 3rd minor, we get this...

And with an A string barre chord? Referring back to the A string "boxed" scale, take just the root, 5th and flatten the 3rd from that and you get...

Suspended (sus) chords

Suspended or "sus" chords refer to when the 3rd is replaced by another note. When I say replaced, I mean the 3rd gets omitted from the chord.

Below are the elements of a "sus4" chord (e.g. Gsus4)

You can also have sus2 chords where the 3rd is again removed and the 2nd note in the major scale is used instead.

1  2  5

Just think of "suspended" or "sus" as meaning "no 3rd". This means suspended chords are neither major nor minor.

So we've covered how the basic triad chords are constructed. Go back and review this lesson if you need. For part 2 of guitar chord theory (constructing Augmented and Diminished chords) use the link below or go back to the theory page for more lessons.

Remember, you can discover loads more variations of the chord types we've learned by studying this comprehensive chord chart. Thanks to JamPlay for providing that great resource for free!

See you soon....