Lesson 5 - Minor Chords

In the previous lesson you learned to create Major chord triads. Playing these you will have noticed they all shared an aesthetic tonal quality - i.e., that Major chords sound "bright", "happy", etc. The other main chord quality - the opposite of Major - is called Minor. It's formula is almost identical to that for Major chords:

I - bIII - V

The only difference between Major and Minor is that step III (of Major) is flatted - i.e., lowered by a half-step. So, where C Major is C - E - G, to create C Minor all you need to do is lower E (the third step of C Major) a half-step to become Eb:



Activity:

• Alternately play C Major and C Minor as simple, three-note triads
• Listen to the difference in tonal quality between Major and Minor
• Repeat the C Major to C Minor alternations using different chord voicings with both hands - hands separately, and then together

What if Step III of Major is a Sharp?

In the previous lesson you learned step III of D Major is named F#. To change D Major to D Minor, the flat sign used in the formula for Minor (bIII) has the effect to simply cancel the sharp sign - thus, F# becomes F when D Major changes to D Minor:


What are Chord Symbols?

In the very most basic form of music notation (chord charts - see next lesson), chord symbols are used as written abbreviations for terms such as minor and major.

Major chords are represented using simply the note-name of the chord thus a C Major chord is simply named using the symbol C; D Major is named D; Bb Major is named using the symbol Bb; etc.

Minor chords are represented the same way as Major chords but with the addition of a lowercase letter "m" to denote "minor". C Minor thus has the symbol Cm, D Minor is Dm, Bb Minor is Bbm, and so on.

Tips For Practicing

When playing simple exercises such as alternating between C and Cm chords, play and hold each for a predetermined number of beats or counts. For example, once you have located the notes required to play each of the two chords, count slowly "one...two...one...two..." until you are feeling relaxed in in sync with your count. Then, play the notes you've selected for C and hold them pressed for two beats (or any multiple of two) and then change to play and hold Cm for the same duration. Change back to C and repeat until you feel confident you can play the correct notes for C and Cm and that you can change between the two chords easily and in time with the tempo (speed) of your counting.