Composers can use piano chords in a variety of ways. Unfunny people can also use them in very unfunny sentences. Before we analyze chords, here is a list of jokes that you should immediately walk away from:

• My hands are so stiff from playing these chords that I’ll have to go on chord-ersone.

• My composition lessons are very chord-ial.

• I can’t play chords! I have no chord-ination!

A chord is made up of notes that are struck or played simultaneously. A triad has three simultaneously sounded notes in its ingredients. The distance between those notes, often measured in semitones (the distance between two adjacent notes on a piano, such as C to C#), determines the type of chord heard. Different types include:

• major chords;
• minor chords;
• diminished chords;
• augmented chords.

The above gives texture and harmony to a composition. Harmony can also be expressed in seventh chords. A root position seventh chord has a fourth note, located either ten or eleven semitones above the lowest note of a root position triad. Seventh chords have many names with two of the most common being:

• dominant seventh chords;
• diminished seventh chords.

For more details, visit the links above. Remember that playing and writing out music helps composers in their craft. When visiting the different links in this website, always try your hand at notation by way of copying.

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