Why are certain chords considered “happy” or “sad”? Are those moods universal? Like do all cultures from around the world consider the same chords happy/sad/etc, or is it just from learned association?

Question

I know very little about music theory. I’ve tried to learn piano, guitar, other instruments… but always failed because I don’t understand what makes a good chord or bad one. I know a happy song or sad song based on context, but listening to a single chord doesn’t strike me as having any mood.

So it got me thinking: am I missing out on a universal experience, or am I just not in sync with the culture I was raised in? If you played the chords from “Walkin On Sunshine” to someone in, say, 5th century Korea — would it make them feel happy & peppy?

Also: could you write a sad song with happy chords? A peppy song with somber chords? etc

Please make explanations really for a 5 year old — I really don’t understand music, I don’t get what major/minor keys are, or even why certain notes make a chord while others don’t. Keep it simple, please!

Thanks!

In: Other

Answer 1

Hi, you’re right. No chord is inherently happy or sad. It’s entirely contextual. A lot of the time it depends on conventions. In Western music, we have the convention on using major chords for upbeat responses, and minor chords for more emotional responses. If you make something sound very emotional, it’s likely sad or passionate. If you make something moving and upbeat, it’s likely happy or triumphant sounding. But almost every song uses a combination of major and minor chords.

So how do we know what is happy and what is not in Western music? We don’t, but conventionally, the home key chord (generally the most common chord, and the one you start/end on) will determine a major (“happy) or minor “sad” theme out of repetition.

Not all cultures follow this. In African countries, emotion is very tied to rhythm rather than harmony. In the West we do this too, but it just isn’t realized and is much less complex than African rhythms. (Think fast strong beats as happy, and long slow beats for emotional). In the middle East, and India, they use spaces in between our notes (quarter tones) to inflect their music with additional information.

Music isn’t a universal language. You aren’t wrong or weird for not seeing music the same as convention.
Music is universal in that all cultures have it, but how they understand it is very much unique.

If you want to understand how music can function as a way of communication, i suggest reading Music as Discourse by Kofi Agawu. Ignore all the dense analysis, and just skim to his discussions of language and it might help.