[ELI5] What’s are, and the differences between Minor and Major chords?
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This is the C major scale:
C D E F G A B
This is the C minor scale:
C D Eb F G Ab Bb (B)
A basic chord is a triad.
A “C major chord” uses the First, The Third and the Fifth.
Referring back to our C major scale this would be:
C E G
We call the E in relation to C a “major third”.
A C minor chord also uses the First, the Third and the Fifth:
C Eb G
So, you can see that in the minor chord the 3rd is flattened from E to E-flat. A “flat third” is also called a “minor 3rd”.
The different between a major and a minor chord is a flattened third.
Okay, so there are a few different ways to answer this question. I’ll address the music theory and the science answers.
From a Music Theory Perspective:
Long story short, there are things called major thirds and minor thirds. They are just intervals (distance between two notes).
They are called these because they have 3 notes in between the bottom and top of the interval.
A minor third has 3 half steps (smallest space between piano keys ex: A white key to A# black key)
A major third has 4 half steps.
A major triad (a triad is a chord of 3 notes, very basic type of chord), has a major third between the bottom notes and a minor third between the top notes (ex: A major: A-#C-E)
A minor triad is the opposite, a minor third between the bottom notes and a major third between the top two notes (ex: A minor: A-C-E)
From a science point of view:
Each note has a frequency in Hertz (ex: the A strings tune to is 440 hz). There is a proportional relation to different notes/intervals, but it’s not linear. Here’s what I mean by that:
An octave (A to A for example) is always a 1:2 ratio. 440 hz A (from above) is an octave below an 880 hz A. These different ratios of hz values make different intervals (a 2:3 ratio makes a perfect 5th. Ex: 440 is A4, and ~660 E4 makes a perfect 5th, and is a 2:3 ratio)
Okay, now to answer your question, a major third ratio is defined as 4:5, and a minor third is defined as 5:6.
Another thing is usually things that have smaller numbers in their ratios are considered more “consonant” or pleasant sounding, while larger numbers in ratios are usually “dissonant” or unpleasant sounding. This means technicallllyyy a minor third is more “dissonant” than a major third, but both are still considered “consonant.” For a reference, a minor 2nd (two half-steps next to each other) is 15:16. Compare that to an octave which is 1:2, it kinda puts it into perspective.
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Hope this helped! Sorry if I got a little detailed 😊
These answers are fascinating to me.
I’m more interested in why minor chords sound deeper and more captivating and intriguing, but I think u/sparkletastickoala answered that
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