How Many Chords Are
There, Anyway?
Since chords (the main component of harmony) are one of the
three most vital elements of music – the others being melody and
rhythm – it would be useful to know how many chords there are. And
it doesn’t matter whether you play piano or guitar or some other
instrument – chords are chords.
It’s certainly not necessary to learn all the chords in the
whole wide world, but it is necessary to learn some of them – at
least enough to allow you to harmonize the songs you would like to
play.
But meanwhile, there are 3 chords -- just 3 -- that you
absolutely, positively have to know. If you don't know these
three, there's hardly a song in the whole world that you could
play. But by knowing just 3 chords, you can play hundreds, if not
thousands of songs! And those chords are simply the primary chords
in any given key:
·The I chord (the chord built on the 1st degree of the
scale)
·The IV chord (the chord built on the 4th degree of the
scale)
·The V chord (the chord built on the 5th degree of the
scale)
For example, if you were playing in the Key of C, the I chord
would be C (c, e, g), the IV chord would be F (f, a, c), and the V
chord would be G (g, b, d).
But as you probably know, there are thousands of other chords,
so it would be helpful to at least know of their existence and
maybe someday learn them.
So here goes:
Since there are 12 major keys one can play in (not counting
enharmonic keys – keys that sound the same but are written
differently), there are:
*12 major triads (a triad is a 3 note chord)
*12 minor triads
*12 diminished triads
*12 augmented triads
*12 diminished 7th chords (4 note chords)
*12 major 6th chords
*12 minor 6th chords
*12 dominant 7th chords
*12 major 7th chords
*12 minor 7th chords
*12 half-diminished chords
*12 9th chords
*12 flat 9th chords
*12 9th/major 7th chords
*12 9th/minor 7th chords
*12 11th chords
*12 13th chords
*12 suspensions
*12 flat 5th chords
*12 flat 5th maj 7th chords
If that’s not enough chords for you, remember that each chord
can be inverted – turned upside down. So multiply all the triad
chords by 3, and all the 4 note chords by 4, and all the 5 note
chords by 5….
Then there are:
· poly-chords – chords that combine two or more other
chords, and
· voicings – the way chords are positioned on the piano
keyboard
And that’s just in one octave. A standard piano has 7 octaves,
so multiply all that by 7 and you get the answer to how many
chords there really are:
More than you
can count!
But again, you don’t need to know them all. Just master enough
so that you can play the songs you want to play, then gradually
over time learn more and more chords. Your musical world will
continue to grow and maturity as a musician will become obvious to
others.
Duane Shinn is the author of over 500 music courses for adults.
His low-cost CD ROM software titled
http://www.keyboardchords.com/>"Duane Shinn’s Instant Piano
Chord Finder Chart!" is used by musicians around the world. He is
also the author of the popular free 101-week online e-mail
newsletter titled
http://www.playpiano.com/>"Amazing Secrets Of Exciting Piano
Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions" with over 60,000 current
subscribers.
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