Chord

A chord is a collection of notes with well-defined pitches sounding together, or sometimes suggested in some manner, such as arpeggiation.

A chord's form is a description of its general structure, often using established categories (e.g. "major triad") or extensions thereof (e.g. "supermajor triad"), which summarize the intervals that constitute the chord. Most chord forms are named after the interval qualities of the intervals of the chord (e.g. "minor-major seventh chord"), while a few others are named after a harmonic function (e.g. "dominant seventh chord") or other composition techniques (e.g. "suspended second chord") when they are strongly associated. Chord forms do not provide precise tuning information, instead relying on interval regions to include a variety of similar chords.

A chord's function is a description of the context in which a chord is used, including how it relates to neighboring chords and to the scale upon which it is built (e.g. "Neapolitan" for a chord built on the ♭II degree of a scale).

Chords by size

• Monad: 1 note
• Dyad: 2 notes
• Triad: 3 notes
• Tetrad: 4 notes
• Pentad: 5 notes
• Hexad: 6 notes
• Heptad: 7 notes

Types of chords

• Dyadic chord
• Delta-rational chord

Chord relationships

• Chordal space
• The Seven Limit Symmetrical Lattices
• Harmonic Lattice Diagram

See also

• Chords of selected temperaments