Hi everyone!!

I was recently reading an article regarding music theory. This article stated that in a key, the I, IV and V chords were major, the II, III and VI chords were minor and the VII chord was diminished.

Is this only true for certain styles of music or is this always true? I was hoping maybe someone could elaborate on this for me.

Thanks.

Yep this is true. But the 7th chord is actually a minor 7 b5.

This is basic chord theory and is writen in stone for any type of music. You can expand of this with model interchange chords as used in jazz music.

We have a couple files one this.

"the VII chord was diminished."

Your info refers to the seven triads belonging to a major scale.
A triad is only 3 notes - or rather, it's only 3 note names, because you can play the same named note on different strings, of course. Major and minor chords without sevenths are triads. The seventh triad in the series is diminished. But you can't play a good strummable version of a diminished triad on the guitar because the fingerings are too awkward, so you have to add the seventh, and this gives what's classically called the "half diminished seventh" or "half-diminished" for short, but it's also commonly called the "minor seventh flat five" chord. (or else you play a diminished seventh chord, but that comes from a different scale as you'll see below.)

The series of triads derived from a major scale, then, is:
1. Major
2. Minor
3. Minor
4. Major
5. Major
6. Minor
7. Diminished

but if you add the seventh to each triad then you get this
series of 7th chords:

1. Major 7th
2. Minor 7th
3. Minor 7th
4. Major 7th
5. Dominant 7th (what everybody calls just "7th" like G7)
6. Minor 7th
7. Half Diminished 7th (or minor seventh flat five)

There is a similar series derived from the natural minor scale (same chords but starting with #6), but two different series may be derived from the Harmonic Minor and Melodic Minor variants of the minor scale: (I give the 7th chords because they're more interesting):

Harmonic Minor:
1. Minor with Major 7th
2. Half Diminished
3. Augmented with Major 7th
4. Minor Seventh
5. Dominant 7th
6. Major 7th
7. Diminished 7th

Melodic Minor:
1. Minor with Major 7th
2. Minor 7th
3. Augmented with Major 7th
4. Dominant Seventh
5. Dominant Seventh
6. Half Diminished
7. Half Diminished

So you can see that the variants of the minor scales give you a
lot more chords to work with. Some of them make very cool arpeggios even though there are not easily strummable versions of them unless you damp some of the strings.

-- Jack

Hi Courtney,

In response to your question about music theory, you are correct. Each postion of the Major Scale has a harmonic value. I learned them this way: Maj-min-min-Maj-Maj-min-min(or dim)-Maj. You will notice that the pattern shows Major chords (harmony) on the 1, 4, 5, & 8 (a.k.a Ocatve). All the rest are minor chords.

Be careful to note that this is the foundation on which all other music theory is built. There are variations to music such as: Various Scales, Modes, etc. But please don't let those confuse you, as they are all variations of the Major Scale. To make it more interesting, you can also change the sound and function of a chord by raising (sharp) or lowering (flat) the notes found in the chord.

I hope that this helps.

--Reggie

Jack_GVR
But you can't play a good strummable version of a diminished triad on the guitar because the fingerings are too awkward



Try drop2 chord voicing.

I always think the 7th is already there especailly when playing model. I did a 4 part lesson of triad improvisation if anyone wants to check it out.

Maj-min-min-Maj-Maj-min-min(or dim)-Maj
^is this the major scale??