The Major Chords
The most common chord used in Rock music is the major chord. All major chords contain three notes, taken from the major scale* of the same letter name. These three notes are the 1 (first), 3 (third) and 5 (fifth) notes of the major scale, so the chord formula for the major chord is:
The C Major Chord
The C major chord is constructed from the C major scale. Using the previous chord formula on the C major scale as follows, it can be seen that the C major chord contains the notes C, E and G.
The chord symbol for a major chord is just the letter name of the chord, E.g., the chord symbol for the C major chord is C. It is common practice to refer to a C major chord as the C chord. This abbreviation applies to all major chords.
Play the three notes of the C chord with the first, third and fifth fingers of your right hand, individually, and then together, as shown here.
When playing a chord one note at a time it is referred to as an arpeggio.
(*For information about major scales see Appendix Two.)
The first note from the major scale (and hence the first note of the major chord) is called the root note. When playing chords with the right hand, the left hand often plays the root note, as shown in Exercise 1.
In this exercise the C chord is played in arpeggio style in bars 1 and 3.
