Intervals are one of the core ear training topics that most musicians tackle as they hone their aural skills. Often the small intervals (seconds and thirds) and octaves are easy to get a handle on, but the larger ones are trickier. One request we hear again and again from RelativePitch users and site visitors is how best to recognise intervals of a sixth or seventh.

It’s easy to understand this. With the small intervals it’s relatively easy to relate one note to the other by using a scale or arpeggio (whether consciously, or just relying on your ear). Anybody who’s played endless major scales on their instrument will be very familiar with major and minor seconds already, as the steps of the scale. Likewise, major and minor thirds feature in arpeggios. Perfect fourths and fifths start getting a bit tougher, and once you extend the leap to sixths and sevenths, a lot of students feel it’s too big a jump for them to accurately judge. Sure, it’s bigger than a fifth and smaller than an octave, but that still leaves four possibilities!

Tips for recognising sixths and sevenths

We’ll look at three techniques which can be helpful if you’re struggling with these intervals. They all provide a “stepping stone” to recognising the interval. Use the technique described to get started and help your ear start to appreciate the character of the interval. Then in time you’ll find you can recognise them straight off!

1. Use the interval’s inversion
2. Use small intervals to reach a known interval
3. Use reference tunes which feature the interval

1. Use the interval’s inversion

If you’re approaching sixths and sevenths, the chances are good you’ve already mastered seconds, thirds and octaves (if not, it’s probably worth going back to get solid on those easier intervals). Here’s a trick you can use to start identifying sixths and sevenths, just using your ability with thirds and octaves.

You can use major and minor thirds to distinguish minor from major sixths. Likewise, you can use major/minor seconds for minor/major sevenths.

The trick is to ‘jump’ the lower note of the interval up an octave in your mind’s ear. This inverts the sixth or seventh into a second or third instead, and by recognising this smaller interval you can figure out the original interval!

For example: When trying to identify a large interval, you jump the lower note up an octave and you can tell it creates a Major Third. You then know the original interval was a Minor Sixth:

You can use this trick for all sixths and sevenths:
Click to read the rest…

As players, guitarists are expected to have a wide range of skills including incredible ears. We are asked to play by ear, accompany singers in any key, and improvise. In developing these skills we need to be able to recognize different chord types and their inversions, as well as to be able to translate what we hear to the instrument.

When we are learning different chord forms we seem to be inundated with their seemingly endless variations and notations. But at their essence are four different basic sound qualities: major, minor, diminished and augmented. Within these four basic triad qualities are really just two modes: major and minor. The diminished triad is related to the minor triad, as the augmented is to the major one.

In this article we will review close position major and minor triads as they are found on the guitar. Close position triads on the guitar are perhaps not the most practical chords to use from a playing perspective, but they will help you understand the construction of larger four and even six note chords that you may be more familiar with, and provide a means for learning their sound quality in their most basic forms.

Triads

Triads are three note chords built by stacking thirds, from a root note. If you consider the common C major chord below, it actually only consists of three pitches: C, E and G. The other two notes are just repetitions: another C on the second string and another E on the first string.

A standard C Major guitar chord

Standard C Major guitar chord

Chords sound the strongest when we put their root as the lowest note. Nevertheless, any of a chord’s members can be the lowest, note giving a triad three possible positions: Click to read the rest…

Ever since we launched our interval training app for iPhone and iPod, RelativePitch, we’ve had people asking us for an app to learn chords in the same way. Well, the wait is over!

Today we’re releasing a new ear training iOS app, called Chordelia: Triad Tutor, which is designed to get you up to speed with the most important types of chord in a fun, simple way.

Chordelia: Triad Tutor teaches the four core triad chords. If you’ve studied our Pitch & Harmony series you’ll know that triads are three-note chords, and the four types of triad form the basis of all commonly-used chords in Western music. Learning to recognise triads is an essential fundamental part of any musician’s ear training.

Focus on the fundamentals

It’s easy when studying harmony to get carried away with the wide variety of weird and wonderful chords you find in music – suspended chords, sixth chords, the many types of seventh chord, extended chords… Not to mention the guitarist’s favourite: power chords. On top of all that you’ve got block chords, arpeggiated chords, chord inversions, chord voicings – and then on to cadences and chord progressions!

Overwhelmed yet?

Making ear training easy is our goal around here, and so with our first chord training app, we decided to follow the KISS principle and keep things simple.

Rather than throwing every possible type of chord (and chord-related skill) at you at once, Chordelia: Triad Tutor teaches just the four types of triad chord. You start off by learning to tell the four types apart, when they’re “spelled out” as arpeggios, one note at a time. Then, as you progress, you learn to recognise them as “block chords”, with all the notes played together. Finally you can really challenge yourself by learning to recognise the chords in different inversions, and even try to tell which inversion it is!

Why train with Chordelia: Triad Tutor

Chords are fundamental to harmony, and harmony is essential to all but the simplest of music. Learning to understand, appreciate and recognise particular types of chord is a core part of any musician’s development – and as a bonus, it’s a great way to enhance your enjoyment of the music you listen to every day!

Even experienced musicians can struggle with chords if they haven’t spent time practising. Was that a major or minor chord? Sounds simple, but put in a musical context, it can be frustratingly hard to tell! Wouldn’t it be great to never have to worry about that kind of fundamental distinction again?

After a few short sessions with Chordelia you’ll find you can easily recognise major, minor, augmented and diminished triads when you hear them in music. What’s more, you’ll have a solid basis for recognising more complex chords too, since these are all based on triads (with notes added, removed or altered).

Once you’ve studied further with Chordelia you will know these triads back-to-front and inside-out, recognise them immediately and always be able to confidently say which type and inversion is being used.

What about all that theory?

There’s a vast body of music theory which deals with harmony – and again, it tends to be overwhelming to all but the most academic of musicians.

Fortunately there’s not much you actually need to know to understand harmonies aurally and develop the skills mentioned above. In fact, if you’ve already been training with RelativePitch or reading about intervals and chords on this site, you’re halfway there!

Chordelia: Triad Tutor features detailed, illustrated lessons to introduce you to all the key concepts, and make sure you know enough theory to develop your understanding of triad chords. You’ll learn what triads are, how they’re constructed, and why they sound the way they do. Later you’ll find out about triad inversions, and the more advanced types of chord built on triads.

You’ll get benefit from any previous music theory or interval training you’ve done, but neither is essential: the app teaches you everything you need to know.

When can you get started?

If you have an iPhone or iPod, you can download Chordelia: Triad Tutor from the App Store today!

LAUNCH SPECIAL: For one week only, get Chordelia: Triad Tutor for just $1.99! That’s 50% Off the usual price of $3.99!

We’re excited to launch this new app, and help musicians learn to recognise chords in the same way RelativePitch has taught thousands to recognise intervals!

As always, we’d love to hear what you think, especially if you’ve tried the app. Please leave a comment below, or email us with your thoughts.

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