Everything has already been said, however, as we all think definitely here is my dirt simple piece on chord tones.
What is a chord tone? The notes of the chord. Now the dirt simple stuff.
- Name of the chord is also referred to as the root or 1.
- A Power chord is made of the root and the 5th note in the root's scale. C-G.
- A triad is made of three chord tones. Again, dirt simple - the root the 3rd and the 5th, aka C-E-G.
- If the 3rd is a natural or major note you will have a major chord. If the 3rd is a flatted note you will have a minor chord. Major 3's = major chords and b3 = minor chords.
- Think of the 5's as being neutral, there is plenty of time to get off into 5b and #5, later. How much later? A year or so.
- This now brings us to the 7th chord tone. A major 7 will be used in a major chord and a b7 will be in a minor (Am7) or dominant chord. (A7) chord. That gives you a major, minor and dominant chord. Yep, enough to keep them asking you back in any good ole boy band in East Texas.
Pick up all the rest when they become part of what you run into - or just make the chord major or minor - for now.
Good luck.
Need to make a few changes to this:
1) A power chord includes the octave. Otherwise it's just an E5 or A5 or whatever.
2) The use of natural and flatted isn't really right here. The third can have the following qualities: major (2 whole steps), minor (1.5 steps), augmented (2.5 steps), or diminished (1 step).
3) A triad, while being three notes, is a stacking of third intervals. A major chord is a major third with a minor third on top. A minor chord is a minor third with a major third on top. A diminished chord is two minor thirds stacked, and an augmented chord is two major thirds stacked.
4) Fifth intervals aren't "neutral" - that term means something else. All of the intervals except for a fourth, fifth and octave can have the major/minor/augmented/diminished qualities outlined above. In the case of the fourth and fifth intervals, they are typically "perfect" intervals of five and seven semitones respectively. If you widen them, they are augmented. If you narrow them, they are diminished.
5) While augmented chords, that is those with an augmented fifth, are uncommon, the diminished chord which features a flat fifth is common enough that you do need to know it. Now. You can't play the chords in a C major scale without a diminished chord - specifically B diminished, which is made up of B D F. What's more, if you play a G7 chord, you need to know that there is an embedded diminished chord, as the G7 is made up of G B D F. It's that diminished chord that makes the V7 want to pull you back to the I chord.
6) When it comes to 7th chords, you're stacking three intervals of a third. Major-minor-major = major 7th. Minor-major-minor = minor 7th. Major-minor-minor = dominant 7th. Minor-minor-major = half diminished. Minor-minor-minor = diminished 7th. But here's a trick - the most important notes of the chord are the root, 3rd, and 7th. If you omit the fifth, it'll still sound good.
