The Chordify music dictionary is a force to be reckoned with. This part of our platform contains a detailed explanation of all things that are music related. In order to make more music, it’s always good to learn more about the tools of the trade. In this blog post we’ll introduce you to all the cool stuff you can find in our music dictionary.
In this blog post
Fun facts
Chordify music dictionary
Major
Chord inversions
Perfect fifth
Fun facts
Jamming is super fun when you’re playing along with your favourite tracks. But have you ever wondered what you’re actually doing? Don’t spoil your jam for now, but in case you want to know what an ‘enharmonic equivalent’ is, or what we mean by axe when we talk about guitars? For these kinds of things the Chordify music dictionary is your go-to. You can find it at the bottom of our home page.
Chordify music dictionary
In this short introduction of the Chordify music dictionary, we won’t cover all the terminology that you will find in there. Simply because it’s way too much information. This is just a little little taste of what you can expect with some fun facts you can show off in conversations, or just use to create your next music quiz. In other words, it’s just a list of terms that are music related.
Some are pretty easy to understand like ‘chord progression’, others like ‘inversions’ are a bit more difficult. Just browse through the list and get up to speed. And since we’re on the topic of music terminology, we figured it would be cool to highlight some gems from our music dictionary.
Major
Let’s start with something that sounds totally logical, like ‘major’, and ‘minor’. When jamming, it’s enough to know the figure of a major or minor chord, obviously. But do you actually know what the difference is between the two? Maybe you do ‘cause you just read our blog post on basic chord theory for guitar, or maybe you don’t.
Well let’s put it this way: Major chords sound uplifting, happy, and optimistic. On the other hand, minor chords can give you a feeling of sorrow, sadness, and melancholy. Why is that? How can a sound provoke such an emotion? Well, there’s a simple and a more complex answer to this. The easy explanation is that the third note of the scale from which the chord is derived determines the mood of the chord. If you want to find out the more complex answer just browse through our music dictionary.
Major minor third
Chord inversions
Now let’s take a look at a bit more difficult-sounding term, like inversions. Do you know what inversions are? If you’ve read our blog post on how to play Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s “Shallow”, you probably have encountered the term. If you haven’t read it, we suggest you do so. Now, back to chord inversions. In short the theory behind this way of playing chords is that you can start playing the chord from all the other notes instead of the root.
From the word itself you can derive the meaning, but how can you explain it theoretically? How can you put it into practice for your jams? Is there a difference in inversions when you play them on piano, ukulele, or guitar? How can you even tell if a chord is inverted or not? Well, there’s only one way to find out….
Perfect fifth
Shall we do one more? Why not! Just for fun. Did you know that a power chord actually isn’t a chord at all? In our School of Rock ‘n Roll article we explain in depth that this “chord” in fact is a harmony of two notes. The first one is the root note, and the second is the fifth. By now you probably figured out that the fifth is what it says that it is — the fifth note of a scale.
Perfect Fifth example
But have you ever heard of the perfect fifth? Here’s a hint: It’s an interval. Do you know what an interval is? Do you know how to find one? If you don’t, it’s okay. Most people don’t know this stuff. Again there’s a simple and a complex answer to these questions. A perfect fifth is nothing more than the distance between the root and the fifth note. But how do you determine this distance?
No worries, we’ve made a list of all perfect fifth intervals in our music dictionary. So, next time you hesitate about what a word means, just check it out. Improving your knowledge has never been easier. Happy jamming!
Teo creates content, which means he writes, a lot, about music, and all things interesting. When it comes to jamming, his weapon of choice is the bass guitar.
