How chords work

From stacking thirds to voicings with tensions, by way of sevenths and inversions.

Essential

Content under musical review. It may contain inaccuracies.

A chord isn't a shape you memorise but a set of intervals over a root. This collection starts by showing how a chord forms by stacking thirds, goes on to triads and sevenths, and then explains how to reorder the notes with inversions, how to add tensions and how to link chords with as little movement as possible.

Keep the chord-formulas table handy throughout: every time a new chord symbol appears, look it up and compare it with the ones you already know. Play every example on the guitar; your ear learns before the theory does.

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In this collection

1 · AnimationChord formationHow thirds are stacked on a scale note to form first a triad and then a seventh chord.
2 · TopicTriadsThree-note chords stacked in thirds, and their four types, major, minor, diminished and augmented.
3 · InfographicChord formulasThe most common chord types with their symbol, degree formula and notes on a shared root.
4 · TopicSeventh chordsTriads with one more third on top, the five main types and the seventh chords of the major key.
5 · TopicChord inversionsWhat happens when the lowest note of a chord isn't the root, and how to use slash chords to build bass lines.
6 · TopicExtensions and tensionsNinths, elevenths and thirteenths, how they're added to seventh chords and which tensions work over each chord type.
7 · TopicVoicings and voice leadingHow to spread a chord's notes across the fretboard, and how to connect chords by moving each voice as little as possible.