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PSR-K1 Owner’s Manual 51
■ About chords
Playing two or more notes together simultaneously creates a “chord.”
Playing a note together with two other notes spaced three notes (steps) apart — such
as the notes C, E and G — creates a harmonious sound. Chords like these are called
“triads” and they play an important role in most music.
Taking the chord above as an example, the lowest note of this triad is called the “root note.” This is the central note sound,
and it supports or anchors the rest of the notes chord.
You’ll notice that the middle note of the chord above (E) is the third step in the succession of scale notes — C, D, then E.
There are two types of “thirds” in chords: major thirds and minor thirds.
We’ll also alter the top note of our original chord and make three additional chords, as shown below. (The captions indi-
cate the intervals between each of the notes.)
The basic characteristics of the chord sound are same, no matter if we change the order of the notes from bottom to top, or
if we add other same name notes in different octaves. Beautiful sounding harmonies can be built in this manner, and emo-
tional music can be created by playing different chords one after the other according to commonly accepted rules. Har-
mony determines the nature of chords, and music is created based on harmony.
● Chord names
From the chord name, you can tell at a glance what type of chord it is and which
notes make up the chord. Understanding the basic structure of chords is very use-
ful—once you’re familiar with this, you’ll be quickly and easily play chords by
looking at the names that appear above the notation.
● Chord types (These chords are among those that can be recognized by the Fingered method.)
3rd
3rd
Root
Major third — four half steps from the root Minor third — three half steps from the root
CM Cm Caug Cdim
Major chord Minor chord Augmented chord Diminished chord
Minor 3rd Major 3rd Major 3rd Minor 3rd Major 3rd Major 3rd Minor 3rd Minor 3rd
Cm
Root note Chord type
Csus4 C7 Cm7 CM7
C7
(
b5
)
Cm7
(
b5
)
C7sus4
CmM7
Perfect 5
th
Perfect 4
th
Flatted 7
th
Major chord
Flatted 7
th
Minor chord
Major 7
th
Major chord
Major 7
th
Minor chord
Flatted 5
th
7
th
chord
Flatted 5
th
Minor 7
th
chord
Flatted 7
th
Suspended 4
th
chord
Suspended 4
th
7
th
Minor 7
th
Major 7
th
7
th
, suspended 4
th
Minor 7
th
, flatted 5
th
7
th
, flatted 5
th
Minor/major 7
th