Major vs minor piano chords: Scales, keys, and how to use them

Major and minor chords are the backbone of western music. Understanding basic major and minor triads will set you on your way to playing hundreds of your favorite songs. In this article, I’ll discuss everything a beginner needs to know about major and minor chords (we’ll stick to basic triads – three-note chords).

What is a major chord?

A major chord is a triad built from the root, a major third, and a perfect fifth.

What is a minor chord?

A minor chord is a triad built from the root, a minor third, and a perfect fifth.

We’ll get into how we build chords from any note shortly, but first, I want to show that major and minor chords are almost identical in form despite the difference in sound and sentiment.

As you can see, the root and fifth remain the same in both chords. Only the third is different; the difference between a major and minor third is just one half step. The third’s major or minor quality is the chord’s defining element.

Major and minor key signatures

It’s important to know that major and minor chords are present in both major and minor key signatures. The thing that truly distinguishes a major key from a minor, and vice versa, is its tonal center. The tonal center dictates the overwhelming feel of a key because the tonic (first chord) is major or minor, and that’s where it wants to resolve.

Let’s look at the C major and minor scales as an example. I’ve highlighted the minor chords in C major and the major chords in C minor. I’ve also highlighted the tonic in each.

No matter how often you play the minor chords in the key of C major, it will always want to resolve to the tonic (major sound). Likewise, no matter how much you play the major chords in C minor, it will always want to resolve to the tonic (minor sound).

Understanding the concept of a tonal center, a harmonic home, helps us decide whether to write music in a major or minor key.

How to build major and minor chords

We covered the basic form of major and minor chords; now it’s time to look at building them from any note.

To build any C chord, we start on the C note, D chords start on D, E chords start on E, and so on. Let’s take two chords as examples: one major and one minor. We can use C major and F minor.

There are a few ways to think about the structure of major and minor triads. The easiest way is to think of the root and perfect fifth first (as you can see above), then add the major or minor third (counting steps from the root).

A major third up from any note is four semitones or half steps (or two whole tones), and a minor third up is three semitones. A semitone is the distance from any note to the note on its immediate left or right. A whole tone goes one note further, equalling two semitones.

Another way to think of it is that:

Major triads feature a major third followed by a minor third (for example, C to E is a major third interval, and E to G is a minor third).

Minor triads feature a minor third followed by a major third (for example, F to A flat is a minor third interval and A flat to C is a major third).

What do major and minor chords sound like?

The easy way to describe the difference between major and minor chords is to say that major chords sound light and happy, while minor chords sound dark and sad. That’s true in the most fundamental sense, but there are many shades between light and dark, many emotions between happy and sad.

Here are some words we could use to describe the major and minor sounds:

Songs take us on an emotional journey and use major and minor chords to do so. Whether you want a particular emotion to be the overwhelming mood of a song or just a temporary departure dictates where your tonal center should be. In other words, whether you write in a major or minor key.

Writing in major and minor keys

As I mentioned, choosing to write in a major or minor key typically signals the definitive emotional intent of the music. Resolving to the tonal center will always provide the strongest resolution.

However, like any good story, music can have ups and downs. We can use the minor chords to add tension or provide partial/temporary resolution when we’re in a major key.

For example, in C major, we can substitute the tonic (C chord) for minor chords that are part of the tonic family (Em and Am, in this case). Although they sound different, both of those minor chords contain two notes from the C major triad. This closeness allows us to use them as tools to take the emotion close to home, but not all the way.

Context is everything; minor chords in a major key don’t sound so definitively dark because the desire to resolve to the tonic (home) is always there.

Similarly, we can use the major chords from minor keys to change the emotion, adding a little light or hope without completely departing from the minor feel.

You can see more of this in use in our most popular chord progressions article.

Ear training

Ear training is an essential part of music education that is often underappreciated. Ear training doesn’t have to be complicated; you don’t need to pressure yourself to get everything right. Anytime you learn something new, take some time to get used to how it sounds; don’t just learn how to play it.

Try forming major and minor chords from different notes, and take some time to listen intently to the difference between them. Learning to identify chord qualities at an early stage will take you a very long way.

Understanding major and minor chords is your gateway into playing and creating music. It’s also a fundamental lesson in the importance of emotion in music.