What’s The Difference Between Major and Minor? A Beginner’s Guide To Chords & Progressions

I’m in a few guitar Facebook groups, and this is a question I see every week, sometimes multiple times a week. I’m sure there’s a lot of musical terms that seem weird or confusing, and I highly, HIGHLY encourage any guitar beginners to also take the time to learn some music theory so guitar is more straightforward. I say this as a beginner myself.

Assumingly, if you’re here, that already shows initiative to understand instead of learning blindly, so I applaud you for that. Give yourself a pat on the back. This isn’t something you’re expected to know, but major and minors will be everywhere in your guitar journey, so it’s important you understand it.

Step 1: Understand the Chromatic Scale

If you haven’t read it yet, I would highly recommend checking out my scales and modes article first. I write about this in more detail over there, but I will summarize it here.

The general musical scale, or more formally known as the Chromatic Scale, has 12 notes.

It contains letters A to G, which is 7 notes. Between every letter, there is a # (sharp) or b (flat) except between B & C, and between E & F, which is 5 notes. Thus, you will end up with 12 notes in total as seen below.

A – A#/Bb – B – C – C#/Db – D – D#/Eb – E – F – F#/Gb – G – G#/Ab – (A)

Know now that there is no difference between A# and Bb. They sound the same, but will be called different things in different scales. Don’t let this confuse you.

These 12 notes will keep looping. If you have a guitar, this is why the 12th fret is special. Unlike a piano, where sharps and flats are separated, all notes are created equal on guitar. Thus, the 12th fret is where the pattern repeats. You can refer to the 12 fret as an octave, the same note at a higher pitch.

Step 2: Learn How Major Scales Are Made

Now, every scale has a pattern. This pattern is reusable, as in you can take the same pattern, start on a different note, and get the same scale in a different key.

In most cases, it will be a combination of Whole Steps (W), which is 2 semitones/jumps/frets, or Half Steps (H), which is 1 semitone/jump/fret.

The Major Scale pattern is: W – W – H – W – W – W – H.

The reason why the C Major Scale is so popular is because, when you start on C and use this formula, you end up with no sharps or flats, as you can see below.

C – C#/Db – D – D#/Eb – E – F – F#/Gb – G – G#/Ab – A – A#/Bb – B – C

From C, you do a whole step (W), so you skip C#/Db and go to D.
From D, you do another whole step (W), so you skip D#/Eb and go to E.
From E, you do a half step (H), so you go to the next note which is F and so on.

No matter what note you start on, if you follow the pattern on the Chromatic Scale, you can be confident that you got the right notes. For more examples, please check out my scale and modes article.

Step 3: Give Each Note/Letter A Number

Now, when it comes to chords, each chord is built off a note/letter in that scale. This is where roman numerals start to come in.

C (1/I) – D (2/II) – E (3/III) – F (4/IV) – G (5/V) – A (6/VI) – B (7/VII) – C (1/I)

The great thing about roman numerals is that, the letters can be uppercase or lowercase. In music, Major Chords would be uppercase and Minor Chords will be lowercase, thus preventing confusion when writing out a progression.

For the Major Key, the 1, 4 and 5 chords are major chords, while 2, 3 and 6 are minor chords. The 7th is diminished.

Major Key Roman Numerals: I – ii – iii – IV – V – vi – viiø – I

So if you are writing a song in C Major, you will have these chords:

C (1/I) – D (2/ii) – E (3/iii) – F (4/IV) – G (5/V) – A (6/vi) – B (7/viiø) – C (1/I)
C Major – D Minor – E Minor – F Major – G Major – A Minor – B Diminished.

I recommend just memorizing which chords get what so you can start creating and playing progressions right away. We will go into the logic of why this happens to be the case below.

Step 4: Creating Major Chords

So now that we know how scales are made, we can get into why some notes get Major Chords and why others get Minor Chords. It’s going to seem a little complex, but if you take your time to understand it, you’ll realize it’s not as hard as it sounds.

In general, chords require 3 notes. It can have more notes, and that’s when we get into the ‘extended chord’ category, but in general, you only need 3. (This is also why power ‘chords’ are often questioned, since they only have 2 different notes. They are technically dyads, but just ignore that.)

The 1st note is the root note. It’s the lowest note of the chord and where the chord gets its name from. If the lowest note is C, then the chord will be C something (major, minor, diminished, dominant etc). The full name will depend on the pattern of the following notes. [There are, of course, exceptions like inversions and slash chords, but that’s a topic for another day. I’m focusing on the basics here.]

A Major Chord will work in thirds. When it comes to music, counting ‘intervals’ between two notes can be a little weird, but know that 1 is always the very first note, the note you are starting on. The 2nd would be the next note, and the 3rd will be the note after.

When talking about ‘thirds’, you are technically only skipping 1 note (1 – 3 – 5 – 7). Fourths, you would be skipping two notes (1 – 4 – 7). Don’t let this confuse you.

So if we are making a C major chord, we will look at the C scale. We start on C (1), we will skip D (2), use E (3), skip F (4), and use G (5). Thus, the C major chord contains notes C, E and G. We are using the 1st, 3rd, and 5th degrees of that scale.

1 – 3 – 5 is a Major Chord.

If we wanted to figure out F major, we can’t just start on F and count in 3rds. I mean, it will work in this case (C – D – E – F – G – A – B – C = F – A – C is the F Major Chord), but it won’t work in other contexts, so you’ll only confuse yourself later trying to take shortcuts like this.

To figure out what notes make up the F Major Chord, you need to first create the F Major scale, and then count in thirds.

F – F#/Gb – G – G#/Ab – A – A#/Bb – B – C – C#/Db – D – D#/Eb – E – F
F Major Scale: F – G – A – Bb – C – D – E – F

If we use the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of that scale, we get F – A – C, the F Major Chord.

As you can see, F, A and C are all notes naturally found in the C Major Scale. Thus, playing an F Major Chord while in the Key of C sounds perfect. It fits. There is no conflict. F Major Works!

I recommend trying this with G. Figure out what notes are in the G Major Scale, then create a G Major Chord. You will see all the notes are also in the C Major Scale.

How about D? Why is D a Minor Chord?

Well let’s look at the D Major Scale:

D – D#/Eb – E – F – F#/Gb – G – G#/Ab – A – A#/Bb – B – C – C#/Db – D
D Major Scale: D – E – F# – G – A – B – C# – D

So, if we took the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the D Major Scale to make the D Major Chord, we will get D F# A…

Uh oh. There’s an F#. The C Major Scale has no sharps or flats, so that F# does not belong. If you tried playing a D Major Chord while in the Key of C, it’s going to sound wrong because of that note. That chord will not work in C Major because the F# does not belong in C Major.

So what can you do to fix it? You make the chord Minor! Let’s learn how that is done.

Step 5: Creating Minor Chords

So, now, let’s learn how Minor Chords are made. It is a very simple ‘trick’ now that you know how major chords are made.

All you have to do is lower that 3rd note by 1 semitone/step. Just flatten it to the lower note on the left. The 1st and 5th notes stay the same, just the 3rd is flattened.

Alone, this would make the chord sound a bit sad, maybe a bit dark, because it’s no longer following the Major Scale pattern. Major Scales are pleasing and happy so Major Chords are pleasing and happy. It just sounds right and natural. But since you are deviating from it, it creates a different feeling.

Despite a Minor Chord sounding darker on it’s own, it works together in a chord progression to tell a story, whatever story you want that to be.

So let’s go back to the D Major Chord. We had D F# and A.
Let’s take that F#, lower it down to an F, and bam! D – F – A is the D Minor Chord.
All those notes are naturally found in the C Major Scale, so it does not create conflict like the D Major Chord would.

So let’s also try this for E. Why is E also a Minor Chord?

E – F – F#/Gb – G – G#/Ab – A – A#/Bb – B – C – C#/Db – D – D#/Eb – E
E Major scale: E – F# – G# – A – B – C# – D# – E

If we take the 1st, 3rd and 5th of that scale, we get E, G# and B….

Once again, the 3rd note, G#, does not belong in the C Major Scale. The C Major Scale contains no sharps or flats. BUT if we flatten the G# to a G, it’s fine.

Thus, we will use the E Minor Chord (E – G – B) in the Key of C.

You can try this on your own with A, the 6th degree of the C Major scale. Write out the A Major Scale, pick out the 1st, 3rd, and 5th of that note, and then flatten the 3rd note. You will see, this also fits all the notes of the C Major Scale.

If you dare to make the Minor Chords via the Minor Scale, you can check out my modes and scales article to learn how the minor scale is made, and just use the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes, but this is a quicker shortcut.

P.S. if you’re curious why we don’t sharpen (go up) a chord, it’s simple. For one, there is only a Half Step (H) between 3 and 4 in a Major Scale. If you went up, the chord is now 1 – 4 – 5, and that is actually a suspended 4th chord. A Major or Minor Chord needs a 3rd. It could be a Major 3rd, which is natural in the Major Scale, or you can flatten it to a Minor 3rd. If you go lower, you end up with 2, and 1 – 2 – 5 is a suspended 2nd chord. When you use a 2nd or a 4th, it creates tension that feels uneasy to stay on for a long time. The listener is anxious to see if the suspended chord will land on a Major or Minor Chord.

Bonus: What About Diminished?

As mentioned earlier, Diminished are rarely used in western music, but if you are interested to understand it, or you play a genre that utilizes these, please read on!

B is assigned the Diminished Chord for C Major. Let’s check out the B Major Scale.

B – C – C#/Db – D – D#/Eb – E – F – F#/Gb – G – G#/Ab – A – A#/Bb – B
B Major Chord: B – D# – F#

If we just flattened the 3rd note like we did for Minor Chords above, we would get B – D – F#….which is better, but there’s still a sharp in there. It’s still not going to sound right in the C Major Key. Thus, we need to flatten the 5th note too.

A Diminished Chord is just that. It has a flattened 3rd AND 5th note.

B Major: B – D# – F#
B Minor: B – D – F# (Flattened 3rd)
B Diminished: B – D – F (Flattened 3rd and 5th)

And finally, we have a B chord that sounds natural and right in C Major.

Diminished is really special, because every note is one note away from the Key’s Major Chord. The B Diminished Chord (B – D – F) REAAAALLYY wants to resolve up to the C Major Chord (C – E – G).

While it may not be as popular and can be hard to use right, Diminished Chords are beautiful and create the right amount of tension if you’re brave enough to use them!

Conclusion

I hope…or rather, I know this article has been insightful for you. Even for me as a learner, while I did understand these concepts, writing them out has helped me clarify the ‘why’ in my own head. If you feel you understand this, definitely check out my next article in this series on how to put together chord progressions!

While music is artistic, it is also logical and mathematical (half notes? quarter rests? 4/4 time?), and being able to put pieces together in a way that makes it easier to digest and memorize it what makes music theory so beautiful and amazing to me.

Almost every ‘why’ in music can be answered with reason, and a lot of the time, it’s not as complex as it sounds. I highly recommend diving in just a bit so instead of blindly memorizing scales and copying songs you know, you will have the freedom and confidence to create and make beautiful music sooner.

If you’d like to apply these concepts and gain more experience, check out my eBook, Rhythm and Chord Progressions. I’ve combined 15 chord progressions with 15 strumming patterns, and under each, there are 5 keys with their chord charts to practice with. I also go over timing, strumming, and chord functions so you can feel confident creating your own progressions and songs! This is something I’ve dug long and hard for as a beginner, but couldn’t find it….so I made my own 🙂

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Thanks for reading, and happy playing!