Crash Course on Chord Construction by JC Magsalin

Crash Course on Chord Construction by JC Magsalin

I’ve been getting a couple of PM’s asking me to post something about constructing walking bass lines. Since I have a couple of hours to spare right now, I decided to write something that’s gonna be a really big help before I start talking about walking bass lines.

This is the simplest (certainly not the prettiest) way i could think of on how to explain chord construction. I’m assuming here that all are familiar in constructing the major scale in any key (if not, just ask me and i’ll try to post something about key signatures).

Let’s start by constructing the C-major scale. this scale doesn’t have any sharps or flats, which makes it easy to begin with.

Taking the 1st, 3rd, and 5th note in that scale (notes in parenthesis), you create a MAJOR TRIAD. Adding the 7th note to the Major Triad, you get a Major 7th chord

Now that we have our major chord, it’s easy to construct other chords, basing it on the major chord.

Dominant 7th (7) = 1, 3, 5, flat 7
Minor 7th (m7) = 1, flat 3, 5, flat 7
Augmented Major 7th (+maj7) = 1, 3, #5, 7
Half Diminished 7th / Minor 7th flat 5 = 1, flat 3, flat 5, flat 7
Diminished 7th (dim7) = 1, flat 3, flat 5, double flat 7

Getting to know how to construct chords is a big step in learning how to construct walking bass lines that help out in leading the chord progression of a song as well as outline the harmony.

Hope this helps and i really hope it’s clear enough THANKS!