Ok, stupid question time.
I know that the G, C, Am, etc., above music are guitar chords, but what exactly are chords? Do you just finger the strings a certain way on the fret things and just strum up and down and that’s playing chords? Why do guitars play chords and not notes like a whistle or flute or keyboard or whatever?
What do the numbers beside the chords mean (G7, A7, etc)?
Whoa Nelly, Cran, that’s a big subject. I suggest you look at an online music theory page. Here’s one-http://members.aol.com/chordmaps/
Guitars have a lot of uses. One is playing chords to play accompaniment for instrumental or vocal music. This most often involves chords. But to understand chords you have to understand the scale and scale degrees. Guitars can also be used to play notes individually as jazz guitarists and bluegrass flatpickers do. With fingerstyle playing it’s possible to play bass notes and melody at the same time. This is just scratching the surface. Try looking up that theory site or some other site by searching.
Steve
i’m not that bright either cranberry, but i guess it has to to with a combination of notes, together they are a chord. you can only play them on chromatic instruments like guitar, piano accordion,…
Far from a stupid question, a question with an answer that could fill a library alone.
try to boil it down
think of each note on your whistle in an ascending fashion
D E F# G A B c# d
then assign each one of those notes with a number
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1
Notice that the low D & high d are both 1’s thats an octave, you probably know about those.
the diff between two notes is called an interval
so if you play a D than an F# you’ll be playing a 3rd, the difference between a D & an A is a 5th.
Dig?
Well if you got that you’ve already got the notes in a D major chord
D F# A
1 3 5
AKA a triad
if you wanted to make all the chords of a key you’d repeat the pattern for each note of the scale.
for example in the key of D
I. 135 (DF#A) D Major
ii. 246 (EGB) Emin
iii. 357 (F#AC#) F#min
IV. 461 (GBD) G Major
V. 572 (AC#E) A Major
vi. 613 (BDF#) Bmin
vii. 724 (C#EG) C#dim
These are the basic triads notice the upper case roman numeral chords are all major. those are known as I Tonic, IV SubDominant & V Dominant. These are the backbone chords.
Dig?
Now about those pesky 7th’s
Oftentimes the 7th is added to the Dominant chord, the seventh note up from the 5th note in the scale. So the 5th note in the scale is G than…
G A B C# D E F#
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
& the G major chord is
GBD
than add the seventh & you get
GBDF#
But wait, that’s a major 7th & sounds like elevator crap more than the funky 7th associated with blues.
Yes, that is the watery Major 7th chord because the major7th was added. To make the world kosher again we need to drop that major 7th a half step down to the “natural 7th” & make the chord.
GBDF
& that’s the Dominant 7th.
I could go on but this shuold be more than a digestable chunk
I thought this was one of those things that everybody knew but me and this question would be ignored. 
See, I’ve had a guitar for a long time and instruction books but I haven’t really played it (tried) and I always wondered what chords were and what the tab meant and why guitars didn’t just have notes printed out like other instruments, this has helped a lot people.
Each string on the guitar is tuned (or should be) to sound a given note; the lowest one is E–depending on your tuning preference–the next one is A, and so on. You change the note sounded by the string by pressing down so that the string bends over a fret on the neck. On any given string you can play a scale in the key named by the open note–the E string will play an E scale, etc., by “fretting” at the proper intervals, which I forget. If you only had one string you’d have to have go-go-Gadget fingers to play the 1-3-5 chord that Brad explained above, plus you could only play in one key, like on our dear little whistle. So you have six strings, all with different notes for a given fret, except usually the first and last string are tuned to E. Now, you have lots of choices as to how you play the notes in the chord–you just have to know where they fall on the neck. And you get to play in any key you like in the bargain.
Tab is just shorthand for how to form the chord. Usually it’s the simplest fingering, like 320003 for a G chord–the numbers from left to right represent the strings from lowest to highest. So on the lowest string you’d press down behind the third fret, on the next lowest behind the second fret, leave the next three strings open, and press down behind the third fret on the last string. When you do it all at once and your guitar is tuned to EADGBE, it will sound a G chord.
And as Brian Finnegan likes to say, please dim the lights before you change your G string.
Wow, Brad, that’s a fantastic explanation! Thanks! I too have been mystified by this whole chord thing, and it’s only in the last month or so that I’ve started to grasp what they’re about (beyond being “several notes played together that don’t sound horrible”). This is a very nice, concise, and clear explanation of the basics. That is, unless I’ve completely misunderstood everything you said, in which case it’s a bit less clear. 
Steven
Chords: any combination of notes played together (2 or more)
Nice Sounding chords: anything that doesn’t sound like crap.
Seriously, chords are any mixture of notes, but some of the more used ones usually are derivatives of triads (ie they have three notes but are changed somehow)
I will use numbers here so you can apply to your own scale
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 being a major scale and # or b sharpening or flattening the notes as required
Major Triad (major chord): 1 3 5 <–error fixed
Minor Triad (~ chord): 1 3b 5
Diminished Triad: 1 3b 5b
Augmented: 1 3 5#
The first two are the most used chords in any song, and in fact you will rarely hear the last two (unlss you listen to early 20th century stuff → Debussy, etc)
All other chords are built one these:
a 7th chord as mentioned is one with the seventh note added.
There are three main ones:
Major 7th: 1 3 5 7
7th: 1 3 5 7b
Minor 7th: 1 3b 5 7b
Notice that a 7th actually consists of a flattened 7th (otherwise known as a minor 7th sort of confusing eh?)
There are many permutations of chords that involve adding base notes, changing the order of notes (or using 4ths) or using 2 notes only. These are pretty much only used for art music (read classical stuff that takes years of practise) or guitar music.
Basic music will consist mainly of major minor and 7th chords
Now: The ONLY instruments that can play chords are those that can sound more than one note at a time. If you have a one tube whistle that can do this I would pay to see it…
Examples: Piano, Guitar, Mandolin , Accordian, and so on..
Nico
Chords:
Chords are the color on your musical canvas.
Consider the melody the black outline, and the chords the colors that you use to make your picture come alive. You can use many different chords for the same song, giving each version a different meaning just like one artist will use one set of colors and another a different.
How many times have you heard Amazing grace played or sung? A jazz players rendition, a choir or a child learning the piano. The chords they choose to use greatly influence the sound and mood of the song.
Chords are like harmony. You play the melody and then there are all these other notes that are played at the same time to give the melody some company.
IF you are playing in the key of D, the root chord would be a D chord. It consists of the notes: D F# G. You can play the notes in any order, they could be F#, G & D, or G, D & F# it doesn’t matter. Each combination gives you a bit of a different feel, but they are the same chord. Now in the key of D, you can play many chords, but most commonly, you would use the 1,4 & 5 chords. 1st being the root or the D chord. 4th being the G chord (G is the 4note in the scale) and the 5th chord being an A chord.
Now here is where chords can be interesting. You take your scale. For the sake of argument, I will use the D scale.
D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#, D
Now as mentioned in another post, you can give each note in the scale a number. D = 1 (root) E = 2, F# = 3 etc.
Though this rule can be broken the chords usually go like this:
1 = Major, 2 = Minor, 3 = minor, 4 = major, 5 = major, 6 = minor, 7 = diminished (barely used)
So for the D scale your most common chords (without doctoring them up) are: D major, E minor, F# minor, G major, A major, B minor, C# dim.
All these chords are seperated by 2 notes in the scale. Example D chord is D, F# & A. E minor chord is E, G & B
The difference between a minor chord and a major chord is the middle note is a semi-tone higher than in a minor chord. Minor chords sound haunting while major chords sound happy.
Adding 7th’s etc.
Normal chords can have extra notes added to them to make them sound a little different. 7th chords you take the 7th note in the scale (for that chord) and walk down an extra semi tone. For a D 7th chord you add a C natural. The chord is now: D, F#, A & C natural. For a major 7th chord, you take add the 7th note in the chords scale. For a Dmajor 7th chord, you add a C#. This chord is something you might here a lounge lizard using.
There are many other ways to color a chord but this gives you an idea. Chords can also be played by leaving notes out. Often you might leave the middle note out and just play the 1st and 5th notes. This give an “open” feel to the chord.
GREAT, BUT HOW DO I HEAR THIS FOR MYSELF??
If you have a piano or guitar, try to play a few chords and just listen to the notes coming together. If you don’t, take your whistle and play the notes in each chord and listen to them.
D = D, F#, G. Play each note and listen to the seperation. Now try Em or E minor = E, G, B
Try D7 = D, F#, G, C natural.
Now see if you can pick out the major or minor chords in simple recordings. Once you understand them, they leap out at you and you notice them everywhere!
Best of luck,
Sandy
D, F#, A, is the root chord, Sandy. But aint people great for jumping in with the help? A generous lot.
1 3 4 is a misprint. Correction: 1 3 5
This is great stuff.
Thanks to all who are contributing to this thread, and thanks Cranberry for asking the question.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Sandy, I love the way you describe chords as being what colors everything in and gives it character!
~Larry
What you may not realize is that a lot of the whistle music arpeggiates the chords at various parts. Not through out the entire piece but at sections.
As to the question about why guitar music is represented by chord charts, guitar is a widely self-taught instrument. Since many are self-taught and have various skill levels, it is usually left up to each individual to come up with their own arrangements. This opens up an infinite number of possiblities of how to play the music plus it saves a bunch of trees. As a studio musician, you are a lot of times just given a chord chart and lead line but that doesn’t mean you are excluded from playing the melody. One exception is classical guitar. Your music is written out for you and if you make any changes to the notes, be prepared for a lot of negative critiques. 
But I would say most people who play guitar are strummers 
if you augment a diminished chord does that make it a demented chord?
I must say that would be a demented chord! I’m just playing around with the notes in each of those chords. Sounds like Stravinsky!
(I’m talking intervals now, not chords, BTW)
Diminished 5th, augment 4, tritone, the best name of all for the interval is the classic “Diabolus in Musica”!
You lost me a looooong time ago, picardy. 
Reading all this and absorbing (some of) it is like a new space in one corner of my brain has been opened up and I want to just run around in that space and see where it leads to and see all the new places and things inside that space and see how everything works. Thanks thanks thanks, to everybody.
I tried to play guitar for months, Brad. And I was able to play chords. But never really understood how they worked. I copied your explanation to a text file for future reference. Seriously, I scoured the net and several tutor books and never found it explained so simply.
thanks
jd
Great topic. Far be it from me to stay away and not add my many points of view.
edited. I had a diagram but it didn’t format right when submitted.
If you have access to a key board try playing a C E G all at once. Then play a C Eb G. By changing one note you change it from a Major to a minor.
Cool huh?
That’s barely the tip of the iceburg. If you consider what has already been written then you can start a great journey done the chord road. You can also rearrange them so the C (tonic or root) note is not the lowest note of the chord. For example play G C E instead of C E G etc.
Second. When I started playing blues harp as a teenager my Dad taught me about chord progressions. That was enough for the moment but I still didn’t understand how they worked. When I took up mandolin that’s when I really had to dig in. Understanding chord theory has helped in all aspects of my flute and whistle playing.
It has already been mentioned that there are some chords of a given scale or ‘key’ that dominate a tune/song etc. For example most popular, country, folk, bluegrass, trad etc uses the I IV V chords in various combinations. Most but not all. There are a lot of variations on these.
There are some chord progressions that are used in myriads of different songs. For example what I call the “Crocadile Rock” progression. It’s I VIm IV V That is 1 minor6 5th 4th. This one is really over used. Another notable instance being “Last Kiss”
There are quite a few others.
Third. I still fail to understand what it is about the human hearing mechanism and it’s relation to the psyche that makes chords work the way they do. Why do some chords create tension while others resolve???
Why do some sound sinister while others happy???
Because they’re just another social construction.