what's the difference between chords and music scales?

Question

what's the difference?
2. can chords be transformed into scales
3. give example.
helpp....

Answer 1

Chords are multiple notes played at the same time, all in the same key. Scales are single notes played in order from bottom to top or top to bottom, all in the same key. Chords can be transposed to scales. If you play a C chord, which is C E G, all at the same time, then change to the C scale, which is C D E F G A B C, all one at a time in order. Good Luck!

Answer 2

ok, for example, a G Major chord consists of only three different notes. those are the first, third, and fifth notes in teh G major scale. and the G scale goes G A B C D E F# G
the first third and fifth notes are G B and D
and when you play the G major chord it goes...(for guitar chords cause thats what i play)
e-3-----the note is a G
b-3-----the note is a D
g-0-----the note is a G
d-0-----the note is a D
a-2-----the note is a B
e-3-----the note is a G

notice how all the notes are only those three notes from the scale

now for another example, we'll do the A minor chord
a minor chord consists of the first, a flat third, and the fifth
so lets take the A scale..
A B C# D E F# G# A
now lets take the first, third and fifth notes...
A C# and E
now, like said before, to make this a minor, flat the third...
A C and E
now lets play the A minor chord...
e-0-----this note is an E
b-1-----this note is a C
g-2-----this note is an A
d-2-----this note is an E
a-0-----this note is an A
e-x-----not a note

see how every note is one of those three notes?

thats a very brief example, if you have anymore questions about it email me and i can tell ya some more stuff. or you can go and look up 'music theory'

Answer 3

This is a strange question, but I'll do my best. Chords are more than one note sounding at a time. They are usually three or more notes. Three notes together are called a "triad" and the chord they form may be major, minor, diminished, or augmented. There are also 7th chords, as well as 9th, 11th, and 13th. There are also chords with added notes that do not typically belong to a chord like a 6th, 2nd, etc.

Scales are so-called because they go up and down like stairs. There are many kinds of scales, but the one thing they have in common is that they go up and down by step. (1/2 step or whole step.) There are a few cases where there are larger intervals, but the concept remains the same.

Here are some examples:

C Major chord C-E-G
C Major scale C D E F G A B C

d minor chord D-F-A
d minor scale (natural form) D E F G A B-flat C D

I hope that helps!

Answer 4

You really need to get with a good qualified local instructor who can explain these and other concepts to you. You are NOT dumb! You are just having some trouble understanding the basic terminology. It would help to know what instrument you are learning, that way I can explain this to you with your instrument as an example. In the most basic context a scale is a collection of specific notes in order that form the basis for melody and harmony. The most common scale is the major scale. You probably have heard it before many times and may also know it by the terms Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do. If we were to assign musical notes to it we could easily identify the C major scale as the notes C D E F G A B C. This is a SCALE. A CHORD is simply playing 2 or more notes simultaneously. A basic chord is called a TRIAD It is created by playing THREE notes FROM the scale together. For example, if we play the 1st, 3rd, and 5th note of the C major scale (The notes C E and G) we are playing a C major CHORD. So the scale is seven notes played individually. A chord is three notes played together. The chord is made up of some of the notes in the scale (1 3 5) I hope this explains it to you well enough for you to understand. If not feel free to contact me directly through answers, I have people contact me everyday to help them with their musical questions

Answer 5

Confused yet? Go to the website I've attached and read the jazz handbook it will clear up everything for you. It even gives you charts showing exactly how chords and scales relate to each other that is easy to understand.

http://aebersold.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=JAZZ&Category_Code=_HANDBOOK

Here's my stab at your question.

Typically scales are 8 individual notes arranged in a combinations of whole and half step intervals. The C major scale for example is C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C which is W-W-H-W-W-W-H step intervals. If you take the 1st, 3rd and 5th tone from the scale and play them simultaneously you have a C Major chord. Likewise if you have a C Major chord you can reverse the process and know that it is based on the C Major scale. The jazz handbook goes into more detail will give you many more scale and chord examples. It's a great resourse, very comprehensive, and it's free!

Answer 6

A scale is a series of notes with specific intervals, and a chord is a group of notes derived from its parent scale played at the same time... an arpeggio is a chord played one note at a time.

Any major chord is the 1st, 3rd, and 5th note of the major scale with the same tonic. For example, a C major chord is the 1,3,5 of the C major scale (C,E,G), and a C minor chord is the 1,3,5 of the C minor scale (C,Eb,G).

Four part harmony chords (C7 for example) are major or minor chords with an added note that falls somewhere else in the scale.

The numbers refer to the degree in the scale (1,2,3,4,5,6,7).

A chord can be transformed into a scale by completing the pattern.

Think of it this way:

Begin by realizing that there are 12 possible notes

(C,C#,D,D#,E,F,F#,G,G#,A,A#,B,)

From one note to the next (C to C# for example) is one half-step, and to the one after that (C to D for example) is one whole step.

Notice that there is no sharp or flat between B&C, or E&F.

These are called "natural half-steps", and they are there because of the following rule.

The structure of any major scale is the root first (let's assume C, since that is where music theory begins, and why there are no black keys at specific locations on a piano keyboard) followed by a whole step, a whole step, and a half step, then a whole step, a whole step, a whole step, and a half step. The last note is one octave higher in pitch from the first note.

Root, whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half
C D E F G A B C

I fyou play C, E, G (1,3,5) you have a C major chord. If you use the rest of the notes listed here, you now have a C major scale.

Now, for something a bit more interesting:

A minor scale is played using the same notes as its relative major, but it begins at the sixth degree (Cmajor = A minor).

So for A minor, we have this:

Root, whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole
A B C D E F G A

If you play the 1,3,5 of this scale, you have an A minor chord. To expand the chord into a scale, all you have to do is follow the formula.

Incidentally, all of the notes I've listed here would be played on a piano using only the white keys.

You can use this description to expand into what are called the Church Modes (nowadays shortened to 'Modes') of which there are 7 for each note. So if you play all of the natural notes (no sharps or flats) beginning with C you have the Ionian Mode (Major scale). If you begin with D, you have the Dorian Mode.

E = Phrygian Mode
F = Lydian Mode
G = Mixolydian Mode
A = Aeolian Mode (Minor Scale)
B = Locrian Mode

Each mode should really be treated as a scale all its own, but mathematically this is how they are related.

All 7 of the modes can theoretically be played over the major or minor chords since they contain the same notes, but in practice it is not always pleasant. Locrian Mode for example (B,C,D,E,F,G,A in this case) tends to sound dissonant over a C major chord.

By the way, the note names above only relate to C. If you play the Dorian Mode of the A major scale , then it is B,C#,D,E,F#,G#,A,B

This formula applies to any note and any scale, with a few exceptions (the whole tone scale for example does not follow this pattern), but the notes will have different names and will contain 1 or more sharps or flats (See example just before this sentence).

Also, you should always think of modes based on the major or Ionian Mode, since that is how they are expressed on paper. To do otherwise is to invite confusion.

That is why scales are moveable on stringed instruments (on a guitar, all you have to do is move the fingering to have another scale. I.E. if you play a C major scale at the 8th fret of the 6th string, move the pattern to the 7th fret to play B major).

I hope this helps, and that it wasn't too confusing.

P.S. There are at least three ways to describe every musical position. I have tried to keep this description as simple as possible.

Answer 7

As you can see, chords are groups of harmonicly compatable (or incompatable) sounds, and scales are progressions of single notes to make a resolution of the sound. The most common chord is the triad, which is three notes such as C, E and G. This can be inverted by taking off the bottom note and putting it on the top. The regular CEG configuration resolves to a C Major tone, so C is called the root note, and the inversion of the chord with C on the bottom is the root position. The other two positions are the second and third inversions.
Three things can be done to a major triad (while in the root position); the middle tone can be lowered a half step to create a minor triad, the top tone can be lowered a half step to create a diminished triad, or the top tone can be raised a half step to create an augmented triad.
A chord such as CEGC can be changed as well; If the top tone is lowered a half step, it is a Major Seventh (CEGB). Lowering the top tone a whole step produces the Dominant Seventh, the most popular chord for key changes and in Jazz (CEGB-flat). Loweing both the second and top tones (E and C in this case) makes the Minor Seventh. (CE-flatGB-flat). The Half Diminished Seventh chord is a diminished triad with a minor seventh on top (CE-flatG-flatB-flat).
As for scales; a scale is a logical progression of tones leading up to a single pitch. The chords that make up scales are called 'clusters', groups of four notes right in a row that will, when played in order will produce a scale. Normal chords such as the aforementioned ones will not produce scales when played in sucession, instead they become arpeggios.
A scale, like a chord is based on a root note. I'll use C as the root note again. The major and minor melodic scales are obviously the most common. A major scale (in ascending order) goes thus; root note, whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step (which brings you to the original note at an octave above). The minor scale; root note, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, half step. The chromatic scale is also fairly common, and it is all half steps.
The notes of a scale are named according to their relationship relative to the root note. An E is a major third in the key of C because it it the third note above the root note in the C major scale. E-flat is the Minor third for the same reason. A few special names: F-Sharp is the tri-tone of C because it is exactly in the middle of the C octave and sounds strange with the C. G is the perfect fifth of C because it is the same distance above C in either mode and is unchanged by the mode (major/minor). For tones that don't occur naturally in either of the scales, you can use augmented/diminished. D-flat does not occur in either c major or minor scales, but D does; thus, since D is the 'second', D-flat is a diminished second. This does not apply exclusivley to tones not in the scales; the perfect fifth can also be described as the double-augmented fourth or the double-diminished sixth.

I went a bit out of order here, so you should probably re-read the section about chords now that I've covered how to name notes.

Answer 8

scales are individual notes - usually 8 of them - that make up the major tones in a "key" ex. key of C starts with C and then D,E,F,G,A,B then C again.

Chords are built around the 1st, 3rd and 5th tones
C major is C,E,G played simultaneously
C minor is C,E flat, And G
and from there you can add6ths, 7ths , 9ths, dim. and sus. and so forth - thats a very oversimplified keyboard explanation. We don't have enough space here to get into guitar scales and chords and I don't even know about horns and such. Can you play a chord on a horn?

Answer 9

The difference is a chord are to notes played at once.
Yes chords can be transposed into scales.
CDG chord play it together on a piano it harmonizes
Now play them individually in a scale.

Answer 10

A chord is a note or other notes played at the same time.
A scale has notes that go up and come back down.