what are the family chords?

by Adelbert0923 Sun Jan 11, 2009 7:09 am

My friend told me about this yesterday. Are you familiar with this guys? I think you probably know this. Very Happy

by wasim Sat Apr 16, 2011 8:07 am

Sounds interesting , I'd like to know about it too

by Pianoted Tue Apr 19, 2011 4:27 pm

The ones responsible for this website will hardly be accused of being quick to answer questions. But I'll give it a try, in case anybody is following this thread, which I doubt.

There are three family chords, also called primary chords, in each scale, with the first, fourth and fifth note of the scale as the root note. For example in the key of C major or the C major scale, the family chords would be based on the C, F and G notes of the piano.

C major scale is C, D, E, F, G, A and B. Hope that is clear. So when you count starting with C as 1, you see that F and G notes are notes number four and five, C of course number one.

So the family chords of C major scale are:

C chord = C - E - G notes.
F chord = F - A - C notes.
G chord = G - B - D notes.

You can build the family chords of any scale, for example in the key of F, the family chords would be F (FAC notes), Bb (Bb-D-F notes) and C (CEG notes.)

Hope that helps.

by wasim Tue Apr 19, 2011 9:35 pm

Very useful information !!
Thank you so much pianoted !! Very Happy

by maggiekedves Mon Jun 06, 2011 4:26 am

Pianoted wrote:The ones responsible for this website will hardly be accused of being quick to answer questions. But I'll give it a try, in case anybody is following this thread, which I doubt.

Every member who feels has the knowledge to answer questions can, there is no such thing as responsible person responding all questions. I am glad you did answer and I hope you will share more knowledge with whoever is asking questions.

Pianoted wrote:There are three family chords, also called primary chords, in each scale, with the first, fourth and fifth note of the scale as the root note.

I have never heard of family chords but I did know about primary chords which are also called triads. Now I learned something new. Thank you.

All readers can find more on chords and harmonizing can be found here

https://afpa.hooxs.com/t46-learning-tools-for-beginners-the-notes-chords-and-eartraining#1115