[ELI5] What’s are, and the differences between Minor and Major chords?

Question

[ELI5] What’s are, and the differences between Minor and Major chords?

In: Other

Answer 1

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.