Welcome to the second part of our blog series on all the things you need to know about piano chords. If you are new to chords, and are not sure what they are, or how to construct them, be sure to check out the first part of our piano chords blog series before continuing with this article.
To recap, in our last article, we discussed the basics of what chords are, and introduced you to two basic types of triads: the major triad and the minor triad. In this blog article, we will be sharing with you four more types of triads.
Table Of Content
Diminished Triad
The first type of triad that we will be discussing is the diminished triad. The chord symbol for a diminished triad may be written in a few different ways:
Xº
Xdim
Xm(b5)
X-(b5)
In the above chord symbols, 'X' refers to the root note from which the chord is constructed from.
A diminished triad is constructed by stacking the following intervals:
Minor 3rd interval above the root note
Diminished 5th interval above the root note
If you're not familiar with the terminology for intervals, it is also possible to construct a diminished triad with the following steps:
Go up 3 semitones from the root to get the next chord tone
Go up another 3 semitones to get the last chord tone of the diminished triad
Another way that might be helpful to think about a diminished triad is to relate it to a minor triad - compared to a minor triad, a diminished chord contains the same chord tones, with the exception of the flattened (or lowered) 5th. Hence, the diminished triad is also called a 'minor flat 5' chord and an alternative chord symbol for the diminished triad is Xm(b5).
Without any particular musical context, a diminished chord, by itself, has a dark quality to its sound.
Augmented Triad
The next type of triad we will be learning about is the augmented triad. The chord symbol for an augmented chord may be written in few different ways:
Xaug
X(+5)
In the above chord symbols, 'X' refers to the root note from which the triad is constructed from.
To construct a augmented triad, you would do the following:
Stack a major 3rd interval above the root note
Stack a augmented 5th interval above the root note
If you're not familiar with intervals, it is also possible to construct an augmented triad using the following steps:
Go up 4 semitones from the root note to get the next chord tone of the augmented triad
Go up another 4 semitones to get the last chord tone fo the augmented triad
Another possible way to think about the augmented triad is to relate it to the major triad. You will find that the major triad and augmented triad share the same chord tones, with the exception of the raised 5th in the Caug triad. This is why the augmented triad is also called a 'sharp 5' chord. For example, a Caug chord may be verbally referred to as a 'C sharp 5' chord. This is also why the chord symbol for a Caug triad may also be written as a C(+5) chord symbol.
Without any particular musical context, an augmented chord, by itself, has a dreamy quality to its sound.
Suspended 4th Triad
The next triad that we will be learning about is the suspended 4th triad, whose chord symbol can be as follows:
Xsus
Xsus4
In the above chord symbols, 'X' represents the root note of the chord from which the chord is constructed from.
Between the above two chord symbols, the usage of Xsus is more common than Xsus4, as specifying the 4 is somewhat redundant. However, it is still valid as a chord symbol.
To construct a suspended 4th triad, we would stack the following intervals above the root note:
Perfect 4th interval above the root note
Perfect 5th interval above the root note
Another way to think about a suspended 4th chord would be to relate it to a major chord. The term 'suspended 4th' means to replace the 3rd in a major chord with the 4th scale degree in the major scale formed off the same root note.
If you are neither familiar with intervals or major scales, you may also opt to construct a suspended 4th chord by using the following steps:
Go up 5 semitones (or half-steps) from the root note to get the next chord tone
Go up another 2 semitones (or half-steps) to get the last chord tone of the suspended 4th triad
Suspended 2nd Triad
The last type of triad that we will be discussing is the suspended 2nd triad. The chord symbol for a suspended 2nd triad is as follows:
Xsus2
In the above chord symbol, 'X' refers to the root note from which the triad is constructed from.
A suspended 2nd triad may be constructed by the following intervallic structure:
Major 2nd interval above the root
Perfect 5th interval above the root
Another way to think about a suspended 2nd triad is relate it to a major chord. The term 'suspended 2nd' refers to the fact that to construct a suspended 2nd triad, you would take the 3rd in a major chord and replace it with the 2nd scale degree in the major scale formed off the same root note.
If you're neither familiar with intervals or major scales, then another way you could use to construct a suspended 2nd chord would be to follow these steps:
Go up 2 semitones from the root note to get the next chord tone of the triad
Go up another 5 semitones to get the last chord tone of the suspended 2nd triad
What's Next: Beyond Triads
Up till this point, we have covered a total of 6 different types of triads, their chord symbols, and how to construct them. Let's recap what they are:
Major Triad
Minor Triad
Diminished Triad
Augmented Triad
Suspended 4th Triad
Suspended 2nd Triad
In the next part of this blog series on piano chords, we will be moving on to seventh chords and inversions. Stay tuned!