We also have a fixed pattern for the quality of chords that go with a (natural) minor scale: I - Cmaj, ii - Dmin, iii - Emin, IV - Fmaj, V - Gmaj, vi - Amin, vii° - Bdim. Therefore, In C major, we could use the following chords: Uppercase numerals represent major chords, and lowercase letters indicate minor chords.
We use Roman numerals to denote the degrees of the scale on which we build the chords. The second one should be minor, and so on.
The pattern means that if you want to build a chord on the first degree of a major scale, it should be major. I - major, ii - minor, iii - minor, IV - major, V - major, vi - minor, vii° - diminished. There's a fixed pattern determining the quality of chords.
Using these notes from the scale, we can make chords that will fit in the key of C major. For example, in C major, we have:Ĭ is the first degree of the scale, D is the second degree, F is the fourth degree, etc. We get scale degrees by numbering ordered notes of the scale. To find chords that would fit within a given key, we can build them on the degrees of a scale.
