Estimated reading time 4 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Do you need to know what family chords are and how they work? It doesn’t matter if you’re writing songs, or playing piano, guitar, or accordion, understanding how harmonies relate to each other within a key is your first step toward unlocking the secret of how music works. Keep reading to learn how to best use family chords to expand your mastery of music.
This article uses musical terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the post.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission from purchases made through the links. I’ll only recommend products I use, use in lessons, or ones my students or colleagues have recommended.
How to Best Use Family Chords: What Are They?
What are family chords?
- Family chords are harmonies that are all in the same key. In other words, they all have notes drawn from one scale, such as C major or G major.
- Just as a father and son are related by blood so the harmonies in one key are related by their notes.
- Family chords can also be called diatonic harmony.
What are the best ways to use them?
- If your triads are all in the same key (for example D major), this means that the D major scale will work over the chords in D major when soloing.
- Also, if you have a melody in C major, you’d use the C major family chords to harmonize the melody.
- Conversely, if you have a chord progression in G major, you can use the G major scale to compose a melody to go with the triads.
How to Best Use Family Chords: How Does It Work?
We’ll look at basic triads in some of the most commonly used major keys.
Key of F Major
- F major has one flat: Bb.
- If you look at the chart, all the Bs are flat, but all the other notes are naturals.
- Notice that the chords from 1 to 7 have this pattern: major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, and diminished. (The diminished triad isn’t used very often because it’s very dissonant.)
Mobile users: for best results reading the examples, rotate your screen 90o to the right.
Key of C Major
- C major has no sharps or flats.
- Notice the similarity in the pattern of triads between the keys: major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, and diminished.
- This means that the relationships between the notes remain the same, but the actual notes in each harmony differ from F major.
Key of G Major
- G major has one sharp: F#.
- All the other notes are naturals.
- Notice that the F# affects some triads, but not others.
Key of D Major
- D major has two sharps: F#, C#.
- The Roman numeral analysis tells you which note of the scale a triad is built on.
- Uppercase Roman numerals indicate major triads, and lowercase Roman numerals indicate minor triads.
Key of A Major
- A major has three sharps: F#, C#, G#.
- The decimal numbers tell you how a harmony is constructed.
- The chord gets its name from the root note, the third is three notes above the root, the fifth is five notes above the root, and the seventh is seven notes above the root.
Key of E Major
- E major has four sharps: F#, C#, G#, D#. The sharp notes now outnumber the natural notes.
- Chord symbols are used by chordal instruments such as the piano and guitar to create accompaniments.
- A letter by itself indicates a major triad, a letter with a small “m” after it indicates a minor triad, and a decimal number 7 added after the letter means that an interval of a seventh has been added to the triad.
Click here to see all twenty-four major and minor keys.
For more information on chords and keys
How to Best Use Family Chords: How Is it Used in a Song?
Family chords are used in chord progressions within various keys.
- What’s a chord progression?
- It’s when you move from one triad to the next.
- Below is a rock n’ roll progression.
- If you watch the video, you can hear it being used in the verse of the song Earth Angel.
- Earth Angel is in the key of Ab major. Solo using the Ab major scale over the progression.
Video: Earth Angel
These books will help you become a better songwriter and player.
Final Thoughts
Takeaway points:
- Family chords are harmonies that are all in the same key. In other words, they all have notes drawn from one scale, such as C major or G major.
- Family chords are also called diatonic harmony.
- If your triads are all in the same key (for example D major), this means that the D major scale will work over the chords in D major when soloing.
Have fun writing!
Glossary
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What Precisely Is the Purpose of a Clef?
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