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Music
Grade 7-12
Intervals & Chord Building Cheat Sheet
A printable reference covering intervals, half steps, triad formulas, seventh chords, inversions, and chord symbols for grades 7-12.
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Intervals and chord building are the foundation of reading, writing, and analyzing harmony in music. This cheat sheet helps students quickly identify the distance between notes and use those distances to build chords. It is useful for piano, guitar, choir, band, orchestra, and music theory classes. Learning these patterns makes chord symbols, key signatures, and harmonies easier to understand.
Key Facts
- A half step is the smallest distance between two adjacent notes on a piano keyboard, such as E to F or B to C.
- A whole step equals two half steps, such as C to D or F to G.
- A major scale follows the pattern W-W-H-W-W-W-H, where W means whole step and H means half step.
- A major triad formula is root + major 3rd + perfect 5th, or 0-4-7 half steps.
- A minor triad formula is root + minor 3rd + perfect 5th, or 0-3-7 half steps.
- A diminished triad formula is root + minor 3rd + diminished 5th, or 0-3-6 half steps.
- An augmented triad formula is root + major 3rd + augmented 5th, or 0-4-8 half steps.
- A dominant seventh chord formula is root + major 3rd + perfect 5th + minor 7th, or 0-4-7-10 half steps.
Vocabulary
- Interval
- An interval is the distance in pitch between two notes.
- Root
- The root is the main note a chord is built from and the note that gives the chord its name.
- Triad
- A triad is a three-note chord built from a root, a third, and a fifth.
- Seventh Chord
- A seventh chord is a four-note chord that adds a seventh above the root to a triad.
- Inversion
- An inversion is a chord position where a note other than the root is the lowest sounding note.
- Chord Symbol
- A chord symbol is a shorthand label, such as C, Am, G7, or Fmaj7, that tells musicians what chord to play.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Counting the starting note as one half step is wrong because half steps count the movement between notes, not the number of note names touched.
- Confusing major and minor thirds is wrong because a major third has 4 half steps while a minor third has 3 half steps.
- Spelling chords with the wrong letter names is wrong because chords should be built in stacked thirds, such as C-E-G instead of C-D#-G for a C minor sound.
- Using a major seventh when a dominant seventh is required is wrong because Cmaj7 uses B, while C7 uses Bb.
- Ignoring accidentals in the key or chord symbol is wrong because sharps, flats, and naturals can change the chord quality completely.
Practice Questions
- 1 How many half steps are in a perfect fifth, and what interval is C to G?
- 2 Build an A minor triad using the formula 0-3-7 half steps.
- 3 Write the notes in a G7 chord using the formula root + major 3rd + perfect 5th + minor 7th.
- 4 Explain why the notes C-E-G and E-G-C contain the same chord tones but are not in the same position.