Hearing chord quality
A chord's quality comes from the distances between its notes. Major and minor differ only in the middle note (the third), which is why major sounds bright and minor sounds shaded. Diminished squeezes the top note down and sounds tense; augmented pushes it up and sounds stretched and dreamy.
| Chord | Semitones from root |
|---|---|
| Major | 0 · 4 · 7 |
| Minor | 0 · 3 · 7 |
| Diminished | 0 · 3 · 6 |
| Augmented | 0 · 4 · 8 |
| Dominant 7 | 0 · 4 · 7 · 10 |
Chords here are built from pure sine waves, so there's no instrument colour to lean on: you're hearing the intervals themselves.
Questions
How do I tell major from minor?
Listen to the middle note. Major sounds bright and settled; minor sounds darker. Singing the three notes up and down helps.
What's a dominant 7th chord?
A major chord with a minor seventh on top. It sounds like it wants to resolve, which is why it's so common at the end of phrases.
Why sine waves?
Without overtones, you can't recognise a chord by an instrument's sound. You have to hear the notes and the distances between them.
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