Constructing A Minor Chord
This is how you construct a minor chord.
Beyond knowing what chords should be played it’s important to understand how to construct these chords using your right hand. Here we will focus on how to construct a minor chord . If you know what the notes are of the major scale in the key in which you are playing then constructing a minor chord is not difficult.
To play a minor chord play the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes in the key in which you are playing simultaneously, therefore if you are in the key of “C” – the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes of the C scale are C, E, and G therefore if you play these 3 notes simultaneously you will have a “C” major chord. Now go ahead and flatten the 3rd so that you will be playing C, Eb and G. The end result will be a C minor chord The same will hold true for any key in which you are playing. Consider the Key of “F” – The 1st 3rd and 5th notes of the F scale are F, A and C – therefore if you play these notes together you will have an F major chord. Go ahead and flatten the 3rd so that you will be playing F, Ab and C. The end result here is an F minor chord. Therefore if you take any major chord and flatten the 3rd you will have the minor chord of that same key.
Further it is important to be able to play the inversions of these chords. IE. For a C minor chord C,Eb, and G it is important that you can also play the same chord as Eb, G and C and also G, C and Eb.
That’s it for now. Practice constructing the minor chords of the 1st 4th and 5th positions in each main key and practice playing them along with their inversions . Try this for a fun chord progression C, A minor, D minor and G. There are thousands of songs with this progression and I’m sure you will find it familiar .So do some practicing. The time and effort will definitely make you a better jammer.