Music theory: handy chord reference chart showing the notes in all diatonic major key triads.
What are diatonic chords?
Diatonic chords are the chords made from the notes of a particular scale. For example, chords made using the notes of a C major scale are said to be diatonic to C major.
What are triads?
Triads are the simplest type of chords, consisting of three notes stacked in thirds taken from the major scale. For example, a C major triad is made up of C, E, and G.
The four main types of triads in music are major, minor, diminished and augmented.
How do you find the diatonic triads in a major key?
To find the diatonic triads in a major key, you need to know the notes of the major scale in that key.
For example, the notes of a C major scale are C, D, E, F, G, A, and B.
Then, you need to build a triad on each note of the scale using only the notes from the scale. The order of the diatonic chord triads of a major scale is:
- Major
- Minor
- Minor
- Major
- Major
- Minor
- Diminished
So, in the key of C major, the diatonic triads are:
- C major
- D minor
- E minor
- F major
- G major
- A minor
- B diminished
Chord reference chart
To make things easier for you, I’ve created a chord reference chart that shows you the notes in all diatonic major key triads.
You can use this chart to quickly find out what chords belong to a certain key or to experiment with different chord progressions and harmonies.
The chart is organised by keys and shows the chord symbols, the Roman numerals, and the notes for each triad. The Roman numerals are used to analyse diatonic chords and chord progressions in traditional music theory.
The upper case numerals (I-IV-V) are for major chords, the lower case numerals (ii-iii-vi) are for minor chords, and the lower case with a circle (vii°) is for diminished chords:
I-IV-V = The 1-4-5 major chord degrees
ii-iii-vi = The 2-3-6 minor chord degrees
vii° = The 7th diminished chord degree
Here’s the chart:
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