Index
- An Introduction.
- What are “chords”?
- How to find chords?
- Final thoughts.
An Introduction
So you nailed the Melody part of the song. But still, you feel like something’s missing. What can be it? It feels like you’re singing the song without the karaoke. What to do then? Well, you can try adding chords to your arrangement of a song. Then comes the question, How do I find the chords? I am going to answer it in this article. Hold tight, and let’s GO!
What are the chords?
In music, chords are simply several notes played together – usually built on superposed thirds. Chords are defined by the root note, quality, and eventually by their inversion. Let’s look at how you can include them in your playing.
How to find chords?
To include the chords in your arrangement. Firstly you need to find them and finally rearrange to match the melody. Let’s learn how to find the 6 essential chords!
Prerequisites
- All 12 major and minor scales.
- All 12 major and minor chords.
- Know the scale of song.
Find the chords.
So, you have the scale of the song. Firstly note down the scale. Now, let’s form triads. I am taking Raabta as an example.
Triads are three-note chords formed by alternate notes of a scale. For instance, C, D, and G form the first triad. In short, we call it the C Major chord. Likewise, you can form the next chords by the same method. To sum up, the chords for Raabta would be:
| C | Dm | Em | F | G | Am |
Most importantly, we will number and classify the chords to Major and Minor. The major chords will have numbers 1-4-5. Similarly, 2-3-6 for minor chords.
We numbered the chords because it’s universal for all 12 major scales. The 1st, 4th, and 5th chords will be always major. Similarly, the 2nd, 3rd, and 6th chord will be always minor. If this theory went over your head, let’s take another scale, G Major. The chords would be:
| G | Am | Bbm | C | D | Ebm |
I assume that you have understood the theory by now.
The Major Scale: Chord Pattern
As we observed, there’s a chord pattern for the major scale. You can use the pattern in the image below to find chords faster. In the second image, I will complete this pattern for the D major scale. You can better understand then.
Final thoughts
There you have it, everything to form chords for your favorite songs. But, this doesn’t end here. There’s much more to learn. You need to know how to find scales, what about the melody? And this tutorial only applies to Major Scale. What if you wanted to play Channa Mereya in the Am scale. It’s completely different in finding chords for minor scale songs. We have you covered; there will be articles to help you learn every bit of music from us. Till then, learn music, and let me know your comments. Thank you:)
