This post is one of a 2-part series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here. Please feel welcome to make a comment or ask a question.
This lesson contains a few exercises you can use to teach yourself how to recognise and sing individual notes within a major chord.
Note recognition within a chord is a very useful skill. It’s the basis of working out harmonies; in fact, of arranging in general. It’s also the starting point for solos/lead lines and improvisation.
Listen and Sing
This exercise is the practical equivalent of the exercise in recognising triads from B15. Chord Voicing: Inversions Of Triads.
The idea is to strip a chord down to its content; to sing each different note in the chord at an octave that’s well within your vocal range, starting with the lowest note of the chord.
Some major and minor chords contain notes played at more than one octave. If you stay within the comfortable part of your range and match these notes in your octave, you’ll end up with just 3 notes for each chord, all within 1 octave.
Once you can sing the content within 1 octave, you will be able to recognise one of the triad inversions you learnt at the beginning of this post.
The following exercises feature a major/minor chord played four times. The first and third times the notes are played together but the second and fourth times they are slightly arpeggiated: you can briefly hear the notes one after the other. If you have trouble hearing the individual notes within the chord, focus on the arpeggio to start with.
Method
- Listen to each chord several times. In particular, listen for the lowest note.
- As you listen, try to sing the lowest note of the chord at an octave that’s towards the lower end of your vocal range.
- You want to sing a low note, but not one that’s too low to sing properly. If it’s too low, try an octave higher.
- If you have trouble deciding which is the lowest note, listen to the “answer” a few times and then go back to the exercise. There is no such thing as cheating, just learning 😊. You can find the answers at the end of this post.
- Once you’ve found the lowest note, sing up the scale until you find the next match.
- Continue once more to find the third note of the triad. Once you’ve found 3 different notes, any higher notes should match one of the notes you’ve found (if not, it’s not a plain major or minor chord).
- Sing the three notes as a triad.
- Match the sound (the pattern of intervals) with one of the major triad inversions you learnt in B16. Listen And Sing: Learn To Sing Major And Minor Triads.
The notes are played as an arpeggiated triad in the “answers” at the end of this post.
Example
Listen to the chord and follow the above steps:
You should end up singing something like bar 2 below.
The first bar shows the chord, the second bar shows the content as a triad built on a singable octave of the lower note.
You can check how you went by singing along to the movie. Keep singing bar 2 while you hear the repeat of bar 1.
Try These…
Major Chords
Minor Chords
Mixed
Can you tell whether the chord is major or minor?
Note: Depending on your musical life experience, you may find some of these exercises difficult. Take your time. Just do a little each day and you’ll soon master them.
In the meantime, you can continue with the rest of this course.
How To Tell Which Note Is The Root Note
If you can sing the notes in triad order from the lowest note up, listen for the interval of a perfect 4th as you sing.
- The upper note of a perfect 4th is the root note.
- In root position there is no perfect 4th. The lowest note in the triad is the root note.
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PART 2 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents
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Answers to Try These…
When you’ve listened to these answers once, try singing the triad notes in the second bar while you hear the chord in the first bar.
If you had trouble picking out the notes the first time, go back to the audio question and try again once you’ve felt how the notes fit.
Don’t worry if these exercises take a few attempts. Many musicians develop such skills by years of playing and listening.