Someone please help!!

[iommi]

Things are extremely confusing now.People have been saying to form a D minor or any minor chord

for that matter,form the minor scale and pick the 1st,3rd ,5th notes of the scale.Suppose i take

the C major scale and write the notes C-D-E-F-G-A-B.I start harmonizing the scale.Harmonizing in

Diatonic thirds i get

C-E
D-F
E-G
F-A
G-B
A-C
B-D

Adding a fifth above the root of each third

i get D-F-A which is a D minor chord.So Can i use the major scale to form minor chords as well??
I am extremely confused.

Or should i say the notes of a D minor chord exist in a C major scale?

Or is it that a D minor chord sounds much more relevant in a chord progression in the key of C

rather than D major??

1 final question.Taking a D chord i find

-2 F#
-3 D
-2 A
-0 D
-x
-x

Now it's known as long as a shape contains D F# A it's a D major chord.Then why play the fourth

string??It's done when we do chord inversion,don't we??

Someone please post a good reply as i hate takings on things without explanation

[cyberfret]

I got really confued there.....so lets try this. Here is a another explaination of chord construction. See if it helps clear up some of your confusion.



Chords are built from scales. Step one to understanding chord
construction is to look at the chords that are built from the
major scale.


A C major scale is made up of 7 different notes.

C major scale = C D E F G A B C


Basic major and minor chords come from stacking up every other
note in the scale, for a total of 3 notes.


C D E F G A B C
|___|___| - C (C major chord)


C D E F G A B C
Â*Â*|___|___| - Dm (D minor chord)


C D E F G A B C
Â*Â*Â*Â*|___|___| - Em (E minor chord)



C D E F G A B C
Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*|___|___| - F (F major chord)


C D E F G A B C D
Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*|___|___| - G (G major chord)


C D E F G A B C D E
Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*|___|___| - Am (A minor chord)


C D E F G A B C D E F
Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*|___|___| - Bdim (B diminished chord)


So depending on what degree of the scale you are building the
chord from, you will get a major or minor chord. A diminished
chord is built from 7th note in the scale (B) Although it is
important to know that there is a diminished chord build from the
scale, major and minor chords are the first chords that you want
to understand.

G Â*AÂ* B Â*C Â*D Â*EÂ* F
E Â*F Â*G Â*AÂ* B Â*CÂ* D
C Â*D Â*EÂ* FÂ* G Â*A Â*B --> notes of the C major scale
| Â*| Â*|Â* | Â*| Â*| Â*|
C Â*Dm Em F Â*G Â*Am Bdim --> chords build from the scale


So every basic major and minor chord that you know only has 3
different notes in it. If you are strumming a basic C major chord,
and play 5 strings...you are still only playing the notes C, E and G.


Here are some basic chord forms for C Dm Em F G and Am. You
will see that each chord only contains 3 different notes.
Some of the notes are just doubled or tripled. The notes in the
chord do not have to follow any particular order,
as long as there is a D F A....it is a Dm chord.


Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*C Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Dm Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Em Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*F Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*G Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Am

E:---0(E)----1(F)----0(E)----1(F)----3(G)----0(E)----
B:---1{C}----3(D)----0(B)----1{C}----0(B)----1{C}----
G:---0(G)----2(A)----0(G)----2(A)----0(G)----2(A)----
D:---2(E)----0(D)----2(E)----3(F)----0(D)----2(E)----
A:---3{C}------------2(B)------------2(B)----0(A)----
E:-------------------0(E)------------3(G)------------




No matter what major scale that you build chords from, the order
of major and minor chords remains the same.

Major....Minor....Minor....Major....Major....Minor ....(Diminished)

So the chords build from a D major scale are as follows

D Em F#m G A Bm C#dim

D major scale = D E F# G A B C# D


Looking at the D major scale, you can also start to see what the
difference between a major and minor chord is.

A D major chords is made up of the notes D, F#, and A.
And a D minor chord has the notes D, F and A.


D E F# G A B C# D --> D major scale
|___|____| - D (D major chord)

C D E F G A B C --> C major scale
Â*Â*|___|___| - Dm (D minor chord)




If you look at a D major scale and give each different note in the
scale a number, then a D major chord is made up of 1, 3, and 5
from the major scale.

D E F# G A B C# D --> D major scale
1 2 3 Â*4 5 6 7 Â*1 --> Scale degrees
|___|____| - D (D major chord)



If you look at a D minor chord and compare it to a D major chord,
you will see that there is only 1 note that is different. There is an
F# in the D major chord, and there is an F in the D minor chord.

So if D major is 1, 3 and 5, then D minor is 1, b3(flat 3) and 5. No
matter what chord you are looking at, you are always going to
compare it to the major scale. So what you have learned here is
the "formula" for a major and minor chord.

Major and minor chord formulas

Major = 1 3 5
Minor = 1 b3 5



Here is a basic D major chord with the notes, and the numbers of
the formula.

E:--2-(F# - 3)--
B:--3-(D - 1---
G:--2-(A - 5)--
D:--0-(D - 1)--
A:--------------
E:--------------

Here is a basic D minor chord with the note names and the formula.

E:--1-(F - b3)--
B:--3-(D - 1---
G:--2-(A - 5)--
D:--0-(D - 1)--
A:--------------
E:--------------



-Shawn

[iommi]

Hi,thanks for replying.I was frustated that no one replied.We do however have a communication gap.

Here's my question.

When someone asks how to do a D minor chord,most of us either write the formula for a major scale(take a flattened third) or a minor scale(1st,3rd,5th of this scale).No one seems to mention that the Chord built out of the iind degree of a C major scale is a D minor.So if someone asks how to a D minor chord,if i tell them the above is it correct?I dunno if that can be my primary answer

I dunno why you compared a D major chord and a D minor chord.All i asked was why the fourth string should be played when the three notes are available in the bottom 3 strings

[cyberfret]

Yes, I do believe that we have a communication gap.

Yes a Dm chord is the chord build from the 2nd degree of a C major scale. It is also the 3rd chord in Bb major....or the 6th chord in F major.

The major scale is the constant to which you compare other scales. The formula for a minor scale is in comparison to the major....1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7. So when you say that a minor chord is the 1st, 3rd and 5th degree of the minor scale....the formula is 1 b3 5....because the minor scale formula is 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7....because that is a comparison to the major scale which is 1 2 3 4 5 6 7.

As is my explanation above, I do show that the 2nd chord in a major scale is minor. That is part of the explanation of what a minor chord is. But it is not the full story. In order to understand what a minor chord is, you have to have a constant to compare it to. In music theory the constant is the major scale. So when explaining what a minor chord is, you have to show reference to the major scale of the same root.


"I was frustrated that no one replied."

It has been 2 days since you posted your question....I was confused when I read it, so I am sure other where as well, and therefore did not answer. I will not be able to personally answer every question in the forum. I have given considerable time to answering your questions in the old forum and this one.

I dunno why you compared a D major chord and a D minor chord.All i asked was why the fourth string should be played when the three notes are available in the bottom 3 strings.

Not really understanding what your question was, I did my best to explain what a minor chord is......to do that you compare the minor chord to the major chord. As for why you would not just play the top 3 string on a basic D chord instead of 4.....it sounds different. You could play 3 strings. There are also a 100 other places where you could play a D F# and A on the neck of the guitar and get a D major chord. A lot of times you will have a note doubled or tripled (as explained above)

Someone else may be able to answer your question in a way that you can understand better.

--Shawn

[iommi]

Thanks a lot