Chords with missing 3rds or 5ths

Filed in Free Lessons on June 11, 2011



Most classically trained musicians tend to think in terms of triads.  They look for the three main notes of a chord (1, 3, and 5).  However, the more advanced your chords get, the more likely it is that either the 3 or 5 (or both) will be missing from your chords.  Here is an example:




This is a A^min7 chord even though the 5^th (E) is not there.  G does not belong in the A^min triad but is the 7^th of the chord.

Here is a tip for you.  When you want to identify a chord, start with the assumption that the bass note is the name of the chord and go from there.  You can identify all other notes in their relation to the root.  If you do that, chords like this one will not fool you:

 

This is C major chord.  The bass note is a C, and you can also easily see the E and G.  The other two notes are the major 7^th and a 9^th.  Technically, you could label this chord E^min7/C, but C^Maj7(9) makes more sense to me. (I will explain what a major 7^th is later and how it is different from the more common dominant 7^th.)

Practice strategy: (Continued from the last lesson)
If you were to pick up a hymnal and open to any song, would you be able to rattle off the chord names as fast as hymn is sung? If you can’t, start practicing on a hymn or two when you have a chance. Hymn chords are very simplistic and you will find yourself naming them quickly within a few months. If you come to chords that you can’t figure out, just skip them for now. If you need more help before starting this exercise, study the first example in this lesson.


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