Let's do a batch of posts about chords!
Now our western "Major Scale" is all over the planet. What's a "Major
Scale," you ask? It's "Do-Re-Mi etc. like in "The Sound of Music." And
most folks can't define "scale" very well either, but I have to say it
makes more sense in Italian where it means "ladder" So a scale, any
scale, is a "ladder of notes"
But as I say, our western major scale is taking over Earth. Other scales (and there are many, especially in the orient) simply can't compete.
Thus, most chords, in order to be harmonious with a tune built on such
scale notes (for example: C Major Scale is composed of the notes played
all on the white keys of a keyboard: C, D, E, F, G, A, B and usually the
final C is added to that.) are made only of the white key notes. Now
any group of 3 or more notes is technically a chord but some sound good
and some do NOT and thus we only name the ones we will use, which is to
say the good ones.
The chords that are commonest for a tune
built on the C Major Scale are C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am and G7. Of these the
major chords are usually lumped together (C, F, G, and G7) and called
the "Primary Chords."
Some theory books (although not all of them) call Dm, Em, and Am the "Secondary Chords."
Every scale has a group of chords made of the same notes as the scale.
That's why these chords sound so good when used with the melody of the
song.
