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Diatonic Harmony - Pt. I

The document discusses diatonic harmony and triads. It explains that triads are three-note chords built from the root, third, and fifth scale degrees. There are seven diatonic chords in each major key, labeled with roman numerals: I major, ii minor, iii minor, IV major, V major, vi minor, viio diminished. The construction of each chord type is demonstrated using the key of C major as an example. Major triads contain a major third and perfect fifth above the root, minor triads contain a minor third and perfect fifth, and diminished triads contain a minor third and diminished fifth.

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Ollie Horton
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68 views3 pages

Diatonic Harmony - Pt. I

The document discusses diatonic harmony and triads. It explains that triads are three-note chords built from the root, third, and fifth scale degrees. There are seven diatonic chords in each major key, labeled with roman numerals: I major, ii minor, iii minor, IV major, V major, vi minor, viio diminished. The construction of each chord type is demonstrated using the key of C major as an example. Major triads contain a major third and perfect fifth above the root, minor triads contain a minor third and perfect fifth, and diminished triads contain a minor third and diminished fifth.

Uploaded by

Ollie Horton
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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DIATONIC HARMONY PART I

Triads are three-note chords that contain the root, the 3rd and the 5th intervals built
from any scale degree. Further on in this section we will take an in-depth look at how
to play multiple inversions (different ways of playing the same triad) across the neck,
so for now you don’t have to worry about not knowing how to play them.

All you need to understand right now is that triads are the simplest way of playing
the diatonic chords of the major scale. For the purposes of this lesson, I will refer to
them as chords.

In this context, the word ‘diatonic’ means chords built from each degree of a scale.
For this lesson we are learning the diatonic chords of the major scale.

If you’re unsure of what ‘scale degree’ means, it’s just a particular note derived from
a scale. For example, in the key of C major, ‘C’ is the root note, ‘D’ is the 2nd scale
degree and ‘G’ is the 5th scale degree, as you can see below.

C-1
D-2
E-3
F-4
G-5
A-6
B–7

The diatonic chords of any major key are as follows

I - Major
ii - Minor
iii - Minor
IV - Major
V - Major
vi - Minor
viio -Diminished

Notice how roman numerals are used to number the chords? This is very common in
western music; if you’ve ever heard a musician say ‘play a II V I’, what that means is to
play a chord progression containing the 2nd, 5th and root chords of the key.
Let’s break down the construction of each of these chords.
Remember that an upper case ‘M’ = major, and a lower case ‘m’ = minor.

Chord I – C major
R–C
M3 – E
P5 – G

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

You can see above that this chord is built from the root – C, the major 3rd – E, and
the perfect 5th - G.

Chord ii – D minor
R–D
m3 – F
P5 – A

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

This time the root of the chord is… D. Therefore, we measure the 3rd and 5th intervals
from this note; so while we’re still using the scale of C major, we measure the
intervals of each chord from its root note.

Chord iii – E minor


R–E
m3 – G
P5 – B

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

Chord IV – F major
R–F
M3 – A
P5 – C

F G A B C D E
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Chord V – G major
R–G
M3 – B
P5 – D

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

Chord vi – A minor
R–A
m3 – C
P5 – E

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

Chord viio – B diminished


R–B
m3 – D
b5 – F

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

Notice how this chord is different from every other one? It’s because it contains a
‘diminished’ or ‘flattened’ 5th interval.

To conclude…
Major triads contain a root, major 3rd, and perfect 5th
Minor triads contain a root, minor 3rd, and perfect 5th
The diminished triad contains a root, minor 3rd, and diminished/flattened 5th

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