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Scales and chords

You can build a chord starting on every tone of a scale. Depending on which tone upi start, you'll get a major, minor or diminished chord.

Let's look at the scale of C major. When building a chord on the first tone, you'll get the C-major chord, as we saw before:

The Roman I is used to indicate that this is a chord on the first tone of the scale. In a major scale, the first chord is always major.

Now we can do the same starting at the second tone:

The Roman II is usedr to indicate that this is the chord on th esecond tone of the scale. In this case, we have a minor and major third: it is a minor chord. In a major scale, the second chord always is a minor chord.

Let's continue this: the third chord:

Again a minor chord. III is a minor chord.

The next one: number IV:

The F chord is major. IV = major.

Next the fifth chord (V):

Again a major chord. V = major.

Number VI:

A minor and major third: this is a minor chord. VI = minor.

And the last one: number VII!

To minor thirds: this is a diminished chord. So VII = diminished.

The chords of a key

We used the scale - and therefor the key - of C major. If we put it all together, this is what you get (remember, we do not have to say "major". "m" means minor, and "dim" means diminished):

I = C
II = Dm
III = Em
IV = F
V = G
VI = Am
VII = Bdim

This is how these chords sounds:

I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII and I again.

If we ommit the key, and look at it in a more generic way, this is what you get:

I - IIm - IIIm - IV - V - VIm - VIIdim

To make it more clear, often the major chords are written using capitals, the minor chords using lowecase:

I - ii(m) - iii(m) - IV - V - vi(m) - vii(dim)

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