Guitar Chords
Pick a chord to see every way to play it on the neck, hear it strummed, and learn the notes and intervals it is built from.
Major
The bright, settled sound at the centre of Western music. A root, a major third and a perfect fifth — nothing pulling anywhere.
Minor
Major with the third lowered a semitone. That one note is the whole difference between happy and sad.
Dominant 7th
A major triad with a flattened 7th on top. Restless by design — it wants to resolve, which is why blues and every V chord lives here.
Major 7th
A major triad plus the note a semitone below the octave. Lush and floating — the sound of jazz ballads and warm pop.
Minor 7th
A minor triad with a flattened 7th. Softer and more open than plain minor — the backbone of soul, jazz and R&B.
Half-Diminished
A minor 7th with the fifth flattened too. Dark and unresolved — most often the ii chord in a minor key.
Diminished 7th
Four notes stacked in minor thirds, perfectly symmetrical. Maximum tension, and it can resolve in four directions at once.
Suspended 2nd
The third is replaced by the second, so the chord is neither major nor minor. Open and weightless.
Suspended 4th
The third is replaced by the fourth. It leans hard on the note it is about to become — suspend, then resolve.
Power Chord
Just the root and the fifth. With no third it is neither major nor minor, which is exactly why it survives heavy distortion.