Chord Functions! 1M 2m 3m 4M, etc.
What are Chord Functions?
OK, so you know the major and minor scales perfectly, and all of your chords. But what now? how can you put them together to write songs? Well, use Chord Functions! Basically, you build chords off of the notes in the scale. So it looks like this:
1 MAJOR
2 minor
3 minor
4 MAJOR
5 MAJOR
6 minor
7 diminished
When I walk up a C Major Scale (C D E F G A B C) I’m only playing one note at a time. But if I were to make chords off of those then I’m building it off of their Root-Third-Fifth intervals (R-3-5).
Here’s an example of the chords in the Key of C MAJOR:
The C chord in the key of C becomes C E G making it C MAJOR
The D chord in the key of C becomes D F A making it D minor
The E chord in the key of C becomes E G B making it E minor
The F chord in the key of C becomes F A C making it F MAJOR
The G chord in the key of C becomes G B D making it G MAJOR
The A chord in the key of C becomes A C E making it A minor
The B chord in the key of C becomes B D F making it B diminished
Notice how the E chord in the key of C is E G B. This makes it a minor chord because the 3rd interval is flattened. Meanwhile, the E chord in the key of E is E G# B (Notice the G#) It now becomes an E MAJOR chord because the 3rd interval is NOT flattened. This is because the key of E has 4 sharps in it, one of them being the G#.
Can I build Chords off different Keys of a major scale?
Absolutely! One thing to remember is that the the MAJOR-minor-minor-MAJOR-MAJOR-minor-diminished pattern will ALWAYS follow the same pattern in every key. The only thing that changes are the notes/chords. So simply just plug and play.
Here’s an example of the chords in the Key of E MAJOR:
The E chord in the key of E becomes E G# B making it E MAJOR
The F# chord in the key of E becomes F# A C# making it F# minor
The G# chord in the key of E becomes G# B D# making it G# minor
The A chord in the key of E becomes A C# E making it A MAJOR
The B chord in the key of E becomes B D# F# making it B MAJOR
The C# chord in the key of E becomes C# E G# making it C# minor
The D# chord in the key of E becomes D# F# A making it D# diminished
Understand it now? If not, watch the video above a few times, and you’ll get it!
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