Chords : Use of Chords

Chords are an essential part of our musical language. Composers use chords to harmonize melodies and to determine the key of a piece.

These are the triads in the key of D major. We will use four of these chords to harmonize Beethoven's Ode to Joy as simply as possible:

Beethoven's Ode to Joy:

See Harmonic functions to explore the relationship between chords and concepts like tonality and key.

See our reference for more information about chords:

Triads Identifying Triads Triads in Major Scales Triads in Minor Scales Triads Chord Symbols in Jazz Inversions Seventh Chords Identifying Seventh Chords Origin of the Names Seventh Chords in Major Scales Seventh Chords in Minor Scales 7th-chord Symbols in Jazz

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