Basic Chord Theory

Fretboard
First of all, know the names of the notes on your fretboard.
If I wake you up in the middle of the night, you have to be able to mention these notes instantly:

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

Intervals
An interval is the distance between two notes.
We’ll use the following numbers and intervals to identify chords:

1 = Root
b2 = minor second (half step)
2 = major second
b3 = minor third
3 = major third
4 = perfect fourth
#4 = augmented fourth
b5 = diminished fifth
5 = (perfect) fifth
b6 = minor 6th
6 = major 6th
b7 = minor 7th
7 = major 7th
8 = octave
b9 = minor ninth
9 = major ninth
#9 = augmented ninth
11 = perfect eleventh
#11 = augmented eleventh
b13 = minor thirteenth
13 = major thirteenth

(c) 2017 TrueFire and Richard Hallebeek 1

The Major Scale
The major scale has 7 notes and is made up of the following intervals from the root up
(W means whole step, 1/2 means half step).

It’s very important to know these steps by heart, since you need those a lot when you are building
chords and want to know what intervals a chord is built of.
If you know what interval structure a chord has, you can define the correct name and you can also
find the correct scale to play over that chord when improvising.

In C, the correct notes for a major scale would be:

CDEFGABC

C is the only key with no sharps and/or flats. If you look at another key, for instance B major,
you’ll notice that we need sharps and flats to maintain the correct intervals (distance of the steps)
mentioned before.

B C# D# E F# G# A# B

(c) 2017 TrueFire and Richard Hallebeek 2

The Harmonized Major Scale
We can make chords out of the major scale by skipping one tone at a time. So we’re using every
other note in the scale. You can see this best on a piano keyboard; play the C major scale (all the
white keys starting from C) and then play every other note and you will see and hear how there
are 7 different chords that you can build from the major scale:

Here we have C E G B, intervals are 1, 3, 5, and 7 and that makes the chord Cmaj7.
We can also do this from the second note and the third note from the scale and so on.
(Note that the scale starts again after the 7th note)

Here we have D F A C, with the intervalstructure 1 b3 5 b7, this makes the chord Dmin7.

Here we have E G B D, with the intervalstructure 1 b3 5 b7, this makes the chord Emin7.

(c) 2017 TrueFire and Richard Hallebeek 3

We end up with 7 chords and we call it the harmonized major scale:

Cmaj7 1-3-5-7
Dmin7 1-b3-5-b7
Emin7 1-b3-5-b7
Fmaj7 1-3-5-7
G7 1-3-5-b7
Amin7 1-b3-5-b7
Bmin7 (b5) 1-b3-b5-b7

From the key of B we would end up with:

Bmaj7
C#min7
D#min7
Emaj7
F#7
G#min7
A#min7 (b5)

The root of the chord is different, but all chords have the same intervallic structure, only
containing minor and major thirds.
Note that we can also build three part chords (triads) from the major scale.
The I, IV and V chord would be major (1-3-5).
The II, III and VI chords would be minor (1-b3-5) .
The VII chord would be diminished (1-b3-b5).

(c) 2017 TrueFire and Richard Hallebeek 4

Other Harmonized scales
We took a look at the harmonized major scale; now let’s take a look at other harmonized scales.

The harmonized melodic minor scale from C:

Cmin(maj7)
Dmin7
Emaj7(#5)
F7
G7
Amin7(b5)
Bmin7(b5)

The harmonized harmonic minor scale from C:

Cmin(maj7)
Dmin7b5
Emaj7(#5)
Fmin7
G7
Amaj7
Bdim

(c) 2017 TrueFire and Richard Hallebeek 5

Chord Extensions
I we want to add extensions to chords, just keep on counting in the scale skipping a note.
So to get the right extensions for the I chord (Maj7) in the C harmonized scale, we just keep on
counting:

1 3 5 7 9 11 13

We end up with Cmaj7/9/11/13.You can use all, or just one of those extensions.
For Dmin 7:

1 3 5 7 9 11 13

It’s very important to be aware of the correct chord extensions.

For instance, on a IV chord in Cmajor (Fmaj7) you don’t add an 11, but a #11.
So in the key of A (I chord), where there is a D chord (IV) passing by, you have to add the G#.

It’s really painful when people play open chords in the key of A and add their pinky for the open
D chord, just because it’s a habit of using their pinky there on the G note on the high E string.
But it’s not correct and sounds absolutely unmusical to me.

(c) 2017 TrueFire and Richard Hallebeek 6

Chord Formulas
Here’s the chord formulas for chords that you might encounter.
Remember that it’s essential to know how chords are built.
If you want to solo over chords or make a chord arrangement, you have to know what notes
belong in a chord.

SYMBOL NAME FORMULA

M, Maj Major 1,3,5
m Minor 1,b3,5
aug, + Augmented 1,3,#5
dim, o Diminished 1,b3,b5
7 Dominant Seventh 1,3,5,b7
M7, Maj7, ∆ Maj Seventh 1,3,5,7
m7, -7, - Minor Seventh 1,b3,5,b7
7b5, Dominant 7 Flat Five 1,3,b5,b7
7#5 Augmented dominant 1,3,#5,b7
seventh or
dominant seventh sharp Five
m/M7, m/Maj7 Minor/Major Seventh 1,b3,5,7
m7b5, ø Minor Seventh Flat Five, 1,b3,b5,b7
Half Diminished Seventh
dim, dim7 Diminished Seventh 1,b3,b5,bb7
sus, sus4 Suspended, Suspended Fourth 1,4,5 (3 optional)
sus, msus4 Minor Suspended, 1,b3,4,5
Minor Suspended Fourth
6 (or M6) Sixth (or Major Sixth) 1,3,5,6
m6 Minor Sixth 1,b3,5,b6
6/9 or 6add9 Six/Nine or Sixth Add Nine 1,3,5,6,9
m6/9 or m6add9 Minor Sixth or 1,b3,5,6,9
Minor Sixth Add Nine
madd9 Minor Add Nine 1,b3,5,9
M9, Maj9 Major Ninth 1,3,5,7,9
m9 Minor Ninth 1,b3,5,b7,9

(c) 2017 TrueFire and Richard Hallebeek 7

SYMBOL NAME FORMULA

9, 7/9 Dominant Nine 1,3,5,b7,9

7#9 Dominant Sharp Nine 1,3,5,b7,#9
7b9 Dominant Flat Nine 1,3,5,b7,b9
m11 Minor Eleventh 1,b3,5,b7, (9 opt), 11
11 Dominant Eleventh 1, (3 opt), 5,b7, (9 opt), 1
7#11 Dominant Sharp Eleven 1, (3 opt), 5, b7, (9 opt), #11
Maj#11 or Major Sharp Eleven or 1, (3 opt), 5, 7, (9 opt), #11
Maj7#11 Major Seventh Sharp Eleventh
Maj13 Major Thirteenth 1, (3 opt), 5, b7, (9opt), (11 opt), 13
m13 Minor Thirteenth 1,b3,5,b7, (9 opt), (11 opt), 13
13,7/13 Dominant Thirteenth 1, (3 opt) 5, b7, (9 opt), (11 opt), 13

(c) 2017 TrueFire and Richard Hallebeek 8