How many musical chords are there

You can, of course, play only six notes at a time on a 6-string guitar. Sorry power chords, no offense. As it turns out, this question can easily be answered with a math equation. To them this equation is simple; to me not so much, but I get the basic idea. I thank them from the bottom of my heart for helping me figure some of this out.

Now you might be asking, are these stats of any practical use? Well, perhaps not directly. But they do illustrate how many possibilities musical notes have to offer, and suggest how very little musical territory has been explored so far.

Of all the music in the world, 99 percent is derived from essentially the same harmonic theory and half dozen scales. The unexplored musical possibilities these statistics illustrate comprise a topic that requires a longer conversation and more complex theoretical understanding. Disclaimer : I think there are too many chords on this chart! It has been proven that the more options humans have, the more difficult it is to make a decision. Play through all the chords, then pick one only one you like and start using it.

Heck, play through the first five chords, then pick one you like and start using it. While it can be fun, it can also be a lot like reading a dictionary.

Be aware that the example above contains only one voicing possibility i. There are actually six different ways to voice each one of them. You also have the option to duplicate notes in different octaves.

While this does not make our options infinite, I think you get the point without asking my math buddies to compute them. I have laid the chart out somewhat systematically; see if you can figure out how it works. The reason I have only identified the chords C, Dm, Em, F, G, and Am is because those are the traditional triads three-note chords formed by stacking thirds or every other note from the scale that are not open to debate. C, E, and G will always make a C major triad.

The same goes for the other triads. On the other hand, chords that are not strictly stacked thirds are open to interpretation and naming them depends on their relationship to other chords. Intervals are the note-to-note relationships we hear in music. Chords are simply varying combinations of intervals. To understand intervals in chords, you need to plug in a specific number of semitones. Semitones are the distance between one note and the one directly above it.

On the guitar, a semitone is represented by one fret. On a piano tones and semitones look like this:. Major chords sound full, resolved and complete.

Major chords are built by adding the intervals of a major third and perfect fifth above the root. The root, by the way, is the starting note of the chord in this example our root is C. The major third interval is the distance between the root and the note four semitones above it. Since C is our root, E is the note a major third above. For the third note, the perfect fifth is seven semitones above the root. So in our example, this would be the distance between C and G.

Minor chords are built by adding a minor third three semitones and perfect fifth above the root. Diminished chords will add a tense, dissonant sound to your music.

The I chord the chord built on the 1st degree of the scale? The IV chord the chord built on the 4th degree of the scale? The V chord the chord built on the 5th degree of the scale For example, if you were playing in the Key of C, the I chord would be C c, e, g , the IV chord would be F f, a, c , and the V chord would be G g, b, d. But as you probably know, there are thousands of other chords, so it would be helpful to at least know of their existence and maybe someday learn them.

So multiply all the triad chords by 3, and all the 4 note chords by 4, and all the 5 note chords by Then there are:? A standard piano has 7 octaves, so multiply all that by 7 and you get the answer to how many chords there really are: More than you can count. But again, you don't need to know them all. Just master enough so that you can play the songs you want to play, then gradually over time learn more and more chords.

What if we made E the lowest note with G above it and C the highest note within one octave? And if G was the lowest note with C above it and E at the top within one octave?

That would be C major in second inversion. But what if we have an E in the bass, a C two octaves above it, and a G an octave above the C? We could call this a C major triad. Chords get much more complicated than this! Even though it has the same exact notes as C major 9. Are E minor 7 flat 13 and C major 9 the same chord? But music is made with multiple octaves and therefore we have plenty of voicings for this note chord. Take for example:.

Each one of the above chords contains all 12 notes of the chromatic scale and is thereby defined by its voicing rather than by which notes it contains. The augmented triad is built by stacking 2 major third intervals. Stacking a 3rd major third interval would give us the octave.

The full diminished seventh is built by stacking 3 minor third intervals. Stacking a 4th minor third interval would give us an octave. Take a look at which augmented triads contain exactly the same notes as other augmented triads:. And check out which full diminished seventh chords contain exactly the same notes as other full diminished seventh chords:.

These are some things to think about when considering all the different chords in music. The above examples would not be considered as different chords with our initial combination calculations. The Organ has the largest range of any instrument, but electronic synthesizers can be programmed to go beyond those ranges.

And can we build chords in the sub-bass frequencies and still hear and distinguish them as chords rather than low-end rumble?