Grade 5: Chords: Introduction

A triad is the simplest type of chord made up of three notes.  Think of the triad as made up of the 1st, 3rd and 5th degree of a scale.

We use roman numerals when naming chords and we will at this stage only be interested in chords built on the 1st,2nd, 4th and 5th degrees.

The following chart shows chords built on the tonic note of C (C major).

I     II      IV     V

G    A      C     D

E    F      A      B

C    D     F      G

Chord ‘I’ consists of the 1st, 3rd and 5th note starting on the key note (tonic) of C.

Chord ‘II’ consists of the 1st, 3rd and 5th note starting on the 2nd note of C ie D.

Chord ‘IV’ consists of the 1st, 3rd and 5th note starting on the 4th note of C ie F.

Chord ‘V’ consists of the 1st, 3rd and 5th note starting on the 5th note of C ie G.

These chords are all in root position. Chords can be inverted ie, different notes can be positioned at the bass (bottom) of the chord. If chord ‘I’ consisting of C, E, G had the note ‘E’ at the bass it is said to be in 1st inversion. If chord ‘I’ had the note ‘G’ at the bass it is said to be in 2nd inversion.

The method to show whether the chord is in root, 1st or 2nd inversion is to add either ‘a’, ‘b’ or ‘c’ after the chord. The ‘a’ would indicate root position, the ‘b’ would indicate 1st inversion and the ‘c’ would show the chord to be in 2nd inversion. If a chord does not have either a, b or c after it, it is then assumed that the chord is in root position.

For examination purposes it is useful to write chord sequences including the letters ‘a’, ‘b’ and ‘c’ as shown below.

–   I    II     IV    V

c  G    A     C    D

b  E    F      A    B

a  C    D     F     G

If you worked your chord out to be say chord ‘II’ and the note ‘F’ was in the bass the chord would be IIb. Similarly if you worked your chord out to be chord ‘V’ and the note ‘D’ was in the bass the chord would be Vc. It can be seen that all notes in line with the ‘a’ are in root position, all notes in line with the ‘b’ are 3rds and all notes in line with ‘c’ are 5ths.