Chords and Harmony
Notes sounded together make a chord, and a run of chords underneath a tune is what most songs are built on. A few chords, repeated in an order, carry a whole song.
What a learner can do afterwards
- Say what a chord is and how it differs from a melody
- Hear when the chord under a song changes, even without naming it
- Explain that many songs run on three or four chords in a repeating order
- Give one example of a chord change that sounds like an ending and one that sounds unfinished
1 · Read
A chord is three or more notes played at the same time. That sets it apart from a melody, which is notes played one after another. The simplest chords hold three notes: a root, a third and a fifth. The root is the note the chord is named after.
Build C major on a keyboard. Start on C, skip one white key and play E, skip one more and play G, then press all three together. From C this shape makes a major chord. From D it sounds darker, so the start matters.
A run of chords under a tune is what most songs are built on. Learn three or four chords and you can play thousands of songs, since most repeat the same small set in the same order over and over. That repeating order is the chord progression, the frame the whole song hangs on.
Listen under the tune for the shifts. Sing Happy Birthday and mark where the chord changes: each change tilts the feeling though the melody rolls on. The last chord sounds settled, like an ending, while earlier ones sound still on the way.
Chords stack notes together, a few in repeating order carry whole songs, and the last one sounds like home.
2 · Watch
Take it off screen
Where it sits
This opens up
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.