chord explained
theoryKORD
A comprehensive guide to the simultaneous sounding of multiple notes.
A chord is three or more notes sounded simultaneously, forming the building blocks of harmony. The most basic chord is the triad, built by stacking two intervals of a third. Major triads sound stable and bright, minor triads sound darker and more melancholy, diminished triads sound tense, and augmented triads sound unstable and dreamlike. Adding a fourth note creates seventh chords — dominant, major, minor, and diminished seventh chords each have a distinctive sound. Jazz harmony extends further with ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth chords, as well as suspended chords and altered chords. Chord progressions — sequences of chords — create harmonic motion and form the structural backbone of songs. The relationship between chords is governed by their function: tonic chords feel resolved, dominant chords create tension, and subdominant chords create gentle motion away from home.
The "power chord" used in rock and metal technically is not a full chord at all — it contains only two distinct notes (the root and fifth) with no third.