Chord Construction 1

In order to understand how chords are formed, there are a few basic principles, you have to get to grips with.

• Two notes constitute what is known as an interval. (Guitarists very often play two notes - especially when used with distortion - and call it a power chord, In reality it's an interval)

• Three notes or more are necessary to create a legitimate chord.

• Chords are based on scales.

• Scales are a series of notes designed to make understanding the keyboard/fretboard more understandable.

The Chromatic Scale

In western music the chromatic scale contains all the notes which can be played on a piano or guitar.  Maybe your thinking - Wow! There must be hundreds - No only twelve and they are named after the first seven letters of the alphabet.
A - B - C - D - E - F - G  So where are the other five.. ? They take their names from the existing letters  and just to make life difficult they can have two names all depending on which key you are in, like this... 
A# or Bb = (A sharp or B flat this is the same note)
Then - C# or Db - D# or Eb - F# or Gb - G# or Ab. (Notice the # sign which tells you a note is to be sharpened and the b sign which tells you it must be flattened.) It is easier to see this concept. on a piano keyboard, than it is on a guitar fret-board although the rule applies to both. (See below.)

Tones And Semi -Tones..

What are tones and semi-tones? They are ways of measuring the distance between one note and another. Here are a few examples.... (Checking these against the keyboard picture above should help you to visualise this idea.)

1. The distance between C and D equals one tone.

2. The distance between E and F equals one semi-tone. 

3. The distance between F# and G# equals one tone. 

4. The distance between A# and B equals one semi-tone. 

5. The distance between F and F# equals one semi-tone

6. The distance between E and F# equals one tone

Whether the keys are white or black has no relevance, what is important is the distance to the next note. Put simply.. The distance between any note and the one directly beside it is a semi-tone. (Sometimes called a half step or half tone) The distance between any note and the one two steps above or below it is a tone. (Sometimes referred to as a whole tone.)

The Major Scale

In this section I will be using this scale to demonstrate how to form chords once you understand the basic principle of how this scale operates.
Once you have understood the principle of tones and  semitones, you can move on to the major scale.
The knack to the the scale is knowing this  note pattern.
Tone - Tone - Semi-tone - Tone - Tone - Tone  Semi-tone.
No matter which note you start on, if you follow this pattern you can find the major scale for each one.

Here is the C Major scale on the keyboard. Due to the way  the keyboard is designed. it just so happens that if you start on a C note and play all the white notes.. that will result in this scale.
Notice the tone semi-tone pattern of the notes..

Here is one possible position for  a two octave  C major scale on a section of the guitar fret-board, starting at the seventh fret.. Again notice the tone semitone pattern., it's more difficult to see, but it's there.. 
Try starting on each open string and playing a major scale on each one, to clarify to yourself, how the tone semitone routine works on the guitar. When you can do it along one string, then try going across the strings as in the example below. This pattern is movable.. What ever note you start from.. That's the major scale that you are playing.

If you can't be bothered with all this theory nonsense and just want to find chord shapes.. Download the Nut Chords 32 Chord Finder  It's in zip format, so you will need a zip utility such as Winzip to uncompress it. If  you don't have one get  Power Archiver  An explanation of this program and it's function can be found on my Downloads page.. If  however, all this kind of stuff sets your pulses racing.... Are you in luck... Read on oh studious one... Chord Construction Part 2