Learn piano chords - Augmented, Diminished, 7th and Sus

Hello there... Andy here again.
If you remember, in the last video I showed you the formula for learning to play all of the major and minor chords....
Today in this video we're going to be learning some of the less common chords,
the 7ths, augmented and diminished and the suspended chords.
So before you go through this video, if you haven't done so already,
you should really a look at the other two videos I made before this.
You should be familiar with how to find all of the notes on the keyboard
and you should be familiar with how to make all of the major and minor chords....
Like I said, there are two other videos I made before this one covering this subject
Right, presuming that you've done that,
Lets start with the 7th
There are quite a few different types of seventh chords that you will come across.
There are the normal 7ths or the dominant 7ths as it is sometimes called
The Minor 7th
and The Major 7th
OK... so to start off we'll take a look at the normal 7th or the dominant 7th.
Now if you see a chord written with a seven written after it...
C7 for instance, then it is taken for granted that it is just referring to the dominant 7th.
So lets take a look at how it looks like on the piano.
To form this chord, we Take our basic 3 note major chord as a reference point...
So if you remember, from the the root you count up 4 notes and then up 3 notes....
Lets take it in C for example,
So the C... up 4 to the E and up 3 to the G
Thats our C major chord..
To make this chord into a seventh we have to add one more note...
The seventh or dominant 7th
In this case it is two semitones down from the root.
So here's the root... the C
Two semitones down would be a B flat.
So for now we'll play this B flat up here at the top.
One octave above, at the top of the chord.
So we play a C major, with a B flat at the top.
And thats C7.. or dominant seventh
Now using this rule, G7 for example would be as follows.
It will be a G... B.. and D...
Which is the G major chord,
and two notes down from the G is the F
So its G B D with an F at the top.
G7
Now the minor 7th has the same rule....
But to minor chord
So, for example, A minor is this....
A.. C.. and E... is A minor
2 semitones down from the root
is G
So ... A C E G
Thats A minor 7
You'll see it written with an A, a small 'm' and a '7'
Another way of working it out is by saying that it is another 3 semitones up from the 5th or the top of the chord...
So in this case,
A.. C.. E... 1 2 3 is a G
Its just another way of working it out.
So for example, D minor 7 in would be this....
There's your D minor chord,
3 semitones up
Is the C... so thats D minor 7
The C is also 2 semitones down from the D
D minor 7th
So the other 7th Im going to show you today is the major 7th...
This is formed the same as the normal 7th but instead of counting down 2 notes from the root you only count down one one note.
So for instance, going back to C,
Here's our chord of C.
One note down from the root is a B...
We'll put this B at the top of the chord...
And there we have C major 7
Or, another way of doing it would be to say, instead of one semitone down from the root,
you could play your chord,
and say that from the top note of the chord... it is 4 semitones up
So
G major 7 for example would be...
G B D and up 4 more.... to an F sharp
which is actually one semitone down from the G
G major 7th
So thats all of the 7ths....
now, on to the diminished chords....
A diminished chord is basically a minor chord with the fifth or top note lowered by one semitone.
Lets go to our example in the key of C...
Here we have C minor
C E flat and G ... (G is the fifth)
So the top note is lowered by one semitone.
From the G to the F sharp
And there we have our chord of C diminished.
In the key of A minor
Here we have A minor... A C and E
We move the E down one note...
To an E flat..
So that was easy wasn't it....
So, now onto the augmented chords.
An augmented chord is exactly the opposite of a diminished chord.
Instead of a minor chord,
Its a major chord.
And instead of flattening the top note, we actually sharpen it.
We move it up one semitone.
So we take a major chord, and move the top note up one semitone.
And thats C augmented.
C... E... and G sharp
A augmented for example would be
Here's our chord of A major....
Augmented.. we move up one semitone.. (the top note)
There we have A augmented.
A C# and F... (which is actually E sharp in this case)
Now the suspended chords, or sus chords as they're sometimes written.
These are chords in which the 3rd note the middle note has been replaced with a 4th or a 2nd....
OK... so let me explain..
The most common sus chord is the sus 4
Now if you see C sus written without a number then it is assumed that you need to play the C sus 4
So lets take the major chord..... C, C major
So raise the middle note, the third...
Raise it one semitone up to the fourth note....
So from the E to the F... and thats C sus 4 or C sus.
G sus would in this case be formed by taking a G chord...
G..B.. and D
and now we raise the middle note, the B up to the C

D sus4 would be as follows...
D... F sharp and A..
We take the middle note, the F sharp
and move it up to the G
Now suspended chords create a sort of tension and space in the texture of the harmony. They are usually resolved after being playerd by putting the 4th back to its original place.
So you can see for example... a C sus 4
is often followed by a C
OK.. so the sus 2 is formed by taking the third and lowering it by 2 semitones
down to the second note of the scale.
C sus2 would in that case be ....
Its C.. E.. and G.. but with the E lowered 2 semitones.... to a D
C sus 2.
D sus2 would be
D F sharp and A
with the F sharp being lowered down 2 to the E
D sus 2
So thats the seventh... the minor seventh...
the major seventh... the diminished...
the augmented.. the sus4
and the sus 2.
So, Just to go over them once more they are...
for the chord of C or the key of C
They are,
C7...
C major with a B flat
two notes down from the root
or.. three notes up from the 5th
C minor 7
Exactly the same, but in minor,
So a C minor... three notes up from the fifth is the B flat...
Or, two notes down from the root.
C major 7
Is a major chord.... 4 notes up from the fifth
or one semitone down from the root
So its C major with a B
C diminished
is the C minor with the fifth down a semitone
C augmented
The opposite of the diminished....
Its a C major with the fifth.. up a semitone...
C augmented
C sus 4
A chord of C, with the middle note raised up semitone to the fourth...
And C sus 2
A C chord with the middle note, the third...
lowered two semitones to the D... To the second.
So with all of these chords,
you should now be able to play or work out
most tunes from any chord chart or fake book.
So, check out my web site on how to learn the piano
And keep an eye out for my beginners piano course that should be coming out very soon.
OK... see you next time.