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Equipping yourself with the knowledge in these lessons will make breaking down chords second nature. You'll find that your songwriting and improvisation 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. You'll also find soloing over chords easier, connecting scale tones with chord tones.
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See the contents below for
this guitar chord theory series and work
through the areas you need in your own time. Note that this is not for
beginners, which is why I've included links to some important
preliminary lessons...
First, we need to know where the elements of a chord come from.
Think of a scale with seven tones - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 - this is in fact the major scale.
A chord can be built by first selecting the 1 note. This is called the root note as it is the 1st note in the scale.
We then select two or more additional tones from the scale (e.g. the 3 and 5) and build them on the root note to create the chord (so in our example we'd have 1 3 5).
The root is the reference note for the chord, so when you see Gmaj, Gm or G7, you'll know the root note is... G.
It's the different combinations of scale tones/intervals stacked above that root note that give us the different chord types. We'll be looking at these different chord types throughout the series.Here's how a typical R 3 5 major chord would be mapped out on the fretboard...
As you can see, all the notes of the major
triad are included in the
chord form.
A major triad
is always
referenced simply with the
letter of the note used for the root
(the 1st tone in its
scale).
In the above chord form, the root actually appears three times, the 5th twice and the 3rd once - but as you can see, it still only consists of the three major triad tones.
Again, let's create a familiar R 3 5 major chord with the root on the A string, allowing us to play the same chord in a different position on the fretboard...

So, we learned the major triad was made up of the Root, 3rd and 5th.
The minor triad is made up of the Root, flat 3rd (or minor 3rd) and 5th. The word "minor" in the context of a "minor chord" refers to the presence of the minor 3rd.
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? We can see how it's the same as the major chord but with the 3rd flattened one fret position (one semitone)...
Suspended (abbreviated as "sus") chords refer to any chord that does not contain a major or minor 3rd. This means suspended chords are neither major nor minor, as the 3rd is responsible for making a chord major or minor.
Below are the elements of a suspended 4th chord (e.g. Gsus4, Fsus4, Esus4)

You can also have suspended 2nd (e.g. Bsus2. Csus2) chords where the 3rd is again not present and the 2nd note in the major scale is used instead.
Just think of "suspended" or "sus" as meaning "no 3rd". This means suspended chords are neither major nor minor.
In guitar chord theory, whenever the 3rd is not part of the chord, you effectively have a major/minor neutral sound. Incidentally, that means both major and minor scales will work over them.
The below video looks at a few ways you can use suspended chords in your playing... Time for a break...So we've covered how three basic triad chords are constructed. Go back and review this lesson if you need before moving onto the next part.
Remember, learning guitar chord theory is so much easier once you know the fretboard.
Was this lesson helpful? Please let others know, cheers...
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