Chapter 5 of 10All chapters
Chapter 5 of 10
Harmony
Notes sounding together.
Chords
A triad stacks a third and a fifth on a root. Major sounds bright, minor darker, diminished unstable. Adding a seventh increases the tension.
- Roman numerals name chords by their position in the key.
- One, four and five carry most of the common progressions.
Tension and release
The dominant chord contains a tritone that resolves to the tonic, and that pull organises most western music from Bach to pop.