Defining your own chords with the Chord Builder

With ChordGenie, you are not limited to just the built-in chords. Using the Chord Builder, you can define your own chord types. To do this, you need to know a little chord theory so that you can understand how chords are constructed.

Generally speaking, a chord consists of a root note with 1 or more notes added to it¹. The name of the chord tells you what the root note is, and also gives you an indication of what the other notes are too. To illustrate how chords are constructed, it helps to take a look at some chords that will be familiar to all players. So lets take as an example the chord A Major.

Each note relative to the root has a special name to describe its position in the scale. Take a look at the table below, which illustrates this:

The names in the second column are names given to the position relative to the root. So for the root note A, the relative note called the 3rd is actually C#. Using the table above, if we know that a Major chord consists of a root note, the 3rd and the 5th (sometimes called the perfect 5th) we can see that the notes in the chord are A, C#, and E. In the table above, you can change the root note at the top of the 3rd column to see how the rest of the notes in the scale pan out. So to take another example, if we change the root to C, the 3rd and 5th notes become E and G respectively.

Ok, so now we know how Major chords are constructed. So what about other chord types? Let's look at another example. This time we will look at the notes make up the chord A minor. For minor chords, we use the minor 3rd instead of the 3rd. So for A minor, we have A, C, and E. The specific notes that go into making a chord effect the tonally qualities and mood of the chord sound. You can use ChordGenie's 'Hear Chord' feature to hear the difference between different chord types. Notice that A minor sounds sombre and serious, whereas A major has a more cheerful, up beat quality.

Let's summarise what we've learned so far.

• A chord consists of a root note plus some additional notes.
• The distance in semi-tones from the root note has a name, which is given in the table above.
• A major chord consists of the Root, 3rd, and Perfect 5th.
• A minor chord consists of the Root, minor 3rd, and Perfect 5th.
  

If you want to find out the notes that make up a particular chord, you can easily do so by looking them up in ChordGenie. Let's do this now for Major chords. Open ChordGenie, select Find Chord and select Maj. Once the chord box is displayed, select Options, then Chord Builder. You will see that the Chord Builder is showing you the notes that make up a Major chord. It should look something like Fig. 1. You can find out how any of the chord types in ChordGenie are constructed by loading them into the Chord Builder in this way. In fact, a great way to start your own chord definitions is to begin with an existing one that closely matches the chord you want, and then alter it slightly. You can't over-write the built in chord types, so if you are starting from a built in chord, you must change its name before you can save your changes. When you select Find Chord, any chord types you have added using the Chord Builder appear in blue at the bottom of the Chord Navigator screen.

Fig. 1

Adding a new chord

Let's now look at an example of adding a new chord to ChordGenie. In ChordGenie's advanced chord list, there is a m6/7 chord. This is a minor chord with a 6th and a minor 7th added.

TIP: 7th chords typically use the minor 7th, unless Maj 7th (sometimes written M7) is stated.

A much less common chord is the m6/M7 chord. This is not one of the built in chords, so lets add this chord now. There are two ways to do this - you can start from an existing chord and modify the definition (from the chord box screen press Options, then Chord Builder), or you can create a new definition from scratch.

Defining new chords from scratch I want to show you how you start a new definition from scratch, so we'll look at this first. To begin, select Tools from the main menu, then select Chord Builder. Initially the cursor is over the name field, so press your select key (marked OK on some phones, or the joystick fire button on others) to begin editing the name. Enter m6/M7. Once entered, you are returned to the Chord Builder screen which should now look like Fig. 2. Now move the cursor down to the top of the left-most column. The columns represent upto 6 notes that ChordGenie can include in a chord. The first row is where you select the notes. For our new chord we need the Root, minor 3rd, Perfect 5th, 6th, and Major 7th. Use the select key to change the selected note. If you go too far, you can use 7 on most phones to go back. Some phones use a different key, so you may need to look at the Chord Builder help page in ChordGenie to find the keys to use for your specific phone. Press Select once on the X of the first column to select R for root. Move the cursor right one position on to the next note. You need to press select 4 times to move this note on to the minor 3rd. Repeat the process until you have done all 5 notes. Your screen should look like Fig.3. You could stop at this point, and you will get perfectly valid fingerings for your chord, but it is possible to refine our new chord definition a little further. Notice the second row of the Chord Builder screen contains the letter O, one for each note in the chord. This feature allows you to tell ChordGenie when one, or more of the notes in the chord are optional. For 7th chords, the Perfect 5th is often considered optional and is sometimes omitted. To make the Perfect 5th of our new chord optional, move the cursor on to the O below the P5, and press Select. The O is now highlighted to indicate that this note is now optional.

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

When looking up chords that include optional notes, ChordGenie will decide whether to include them based on what is comfortable to play at any given position on the fret board. If you step through the available inversions for a 7th chord, looking carefully at the notes played (shown at the bottom of the chord box display), you will see that some of them include the 5th, and some of them don't. Setting optional notes gives you more available fingerings, but you need to choose them carefully to avoid spoiling the sound of the chord.

The final row within the Chord Builder has a D for each note. This controls what happens when a chord has fewer notes than the number of strings on your instrument. Normally, what happens is that some of the notes are doubled up to fill the available strings. So, if you look at the standard 1st position fingering for A Major, you will see from the ChordGenie display that A is doubled up (on the A and G strings), and so is E (on the D and high E strings). ChordGenie will double up notes where necessary by default, so by selecting the D under a note in the ChordBuilder you are setting that note to not be doubled up. Setting notes to not double up tends to reduce the number of available fingerings. With some chords, certain notes tend not to be doubled up by convention. For example the suspended note in sus4 chords is not usually doubled up. (Sus4 chords are like Major chords, but with a 4th instead of a 3rd)

For our new m6/M7 chord, we suggest that the 6 and the M7 are selected to not double up.

Defining new chords based on built in chord definitions

Defining chords from scratch is great if you want to make up a chord that is completely unlike any of the existing chords built into ChordGenie. If you know that ChordGenie already has a chord that is similar to the one you want, there is an easier way. For our example of m6/M7, it turns out that there already is a similar chord. You will need to switch to the Advanced List (Settings, then Advanced Chords from the main menu). Now select Find Chord and look for m6/7. Select this chord, and then select Options followed by Chord Builder. This chord differs from the one we want by just one note. All you have to do is move the cursor along to m7 and press Select once to move it on to M7. Notice that the optional note selection and the double ups are already there. Having these already set for you is a big advantage of starting from an existing definition. All that remains to do before you can save your new chord is to edit the name. Currently it is m6/7, so a sensible choice would be m6/M7. Press Save/OK to confirm the name, and then Save to save the new chord. Your new chord will now be available in the Chord Navigator whenever you select Find Chord.

TIP: Chords you have added yourself are always available in the Chord Navigator regardless of whether you have Basic or Advanced chords selected.

Deleting a Chord Type

If you ever want to delete a chord type you have previously added, select the chord type using Find Chord, and when the chord box is displayed, press Options, then Delete Chord Type.

TIP: you may sometimes hear people talk about the tonic when discussing chords. This is just another word for root.

¹Strictly speaking, a chord should have at least 3 notes, but some chord types such as power chords (also written as "5" chords, e.g. A5) only have 2. The correct term for these is "intervals", but they are commonly refered to as chords.