C Major Triad Chords (Piano)

The C major triads are C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am and Bdim: three major chords, three minor and one diminished, one on each note of the C major scale. Together they are every chord a song in C major can use without borrowing.

Each chord has its own section below with a keyboard that grades what you press, so the shapes can be learned here rather than guessed at. Click the sheet music to play the whole set in Chordzy.

A triad is three notes of the scale, every other one. Start on C, skip D, take E, skip F, take G: C, E, G, the I chord. Start on D instead and the same rule gives D, F, A, the ii chord.

The rule never changes, and the quality of the chord falls out of the scale. Where the first gap is two whole steps the chord is major; where it is a step and a half it is minor; the one place both gaps are small, on B, it is diminished. Nobody chose those qualities. They are what the C major scale contains.

Every triad in C major, by roman numeral. Capitals are major, lowercase is minor and the small circle is diminished (there is a longer explanation in roman numeral analysis).

Every note in every one of these chords is a white key. Learn the shapes here and you can move them to any key later; only the black keys change.

C is C, E, G: the I chord of C major, built on the tonic. All three are white keys.

This is home. Phrases in C major start here more often than anywhere else and end here almost always. Right hand fingers 1, 3 and 5 on C, E, G; left hand 5, 3 and 1 on the same notes an octave down.

Press the three notes on the keyboard above, together, in any octave.

Dm is D, F, A: the ii chord of C major, built on the supertonic. All three are white keys.

The chord before the dominant. Dm to G to C is the oldest move in jazz and most of the moves in pop, and it works because Dm shares no notes with C and so sounds like leaving.

Press the three notes on the keyboard above, together, in any octave.

Em is E, G, B: the iii chord of C major, built on the mediant. All three are white keys.

The quiet one. It shares E and G with C and two notes with Am, so it can stand in for either without changing the harmony much. Songs use it to make a repeated line feel like it moved.

Press the three notes on the keyboard above, together, in any octave.

F is F, A, C: the IV chord of C major, built on the subdominant. All three are white keys.

The subdominant lifts away from C without any urgency. It shares C with the tonic, so the hand only has to move two fingers, and the C to F to C swing is the sound of a hymn's amen.

Press the three notes on the keyboard above, together, in any octave.

G is G, B, D: the V chord of C major, built on the dominant. All three are white keys.

The dominant. It contains B, the leading tone, which sits a half step under C and pulls hard toward it. Play G and stop; your ear will play C for you.

Press the three notes on the keyboard above, together, in any octave.

Am is A, C, E: the vi chord of C major, built on the submediant. All three are white keys.

The relative minor's home, A minor, sitting inside C major. It shares C and E with C, so the same melody over Am instead of C sounds sadder without a note of it changing.

Press the three notes on the keyboard above, together, in any octave.

Bdim is B, D, F: the vii° chord of C major, built on the leading tone. All three are white keys.

Diminished, and so never at rest. Bdim is G with the root taken away, which is why it resolves to C the same way. You will meet it more often in passing than as a chord a song sits on.

Press the three notes on the keyboard above, together, in any octave.

Chords earn their keep in sequence. These four use nothing outside C major.

Play each one round four times, left hand on the roots, right hand on the triads, before you change anything. Then keep the right hand where it is and use inversions so it stops jumping. That one change is the difference between chord practice and playing.

Fifteen minutes, in this order.

1. C, F and G, right hand, as block chords. Say the numeral out loud as you play each one.
2. The same three in the left hand. Slower than feels necessary.
3. Add Am and Dm. Now you have five of the seven and the two you are missing are Em and Bdim, which songs use least.
4. All seven up the scale and back down, C Dm Em F G Am Bdim, one chord per beat.
5. Break each chord into an arpeggio, bottom to top, and the exercise turns into an accompaniment.

Then click the sheet music above to play the C major triads in Chordzy and have every chord checked as you press it. The notes these chords are made of are on the C major scale page, and the seventh chords are in the key of C major.