{"id":2891,"date":"2026-11-03T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/?p=246124"},"modified":"2026-10-25T20:40:42","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T19:40:42","slug":"how-many-chords-are-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/how-many-chords-are-there\/","title":{"rendered":"How Many Chords Are There?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Anyone who plays the piano or gets involved with music in general will sooner or later wonder how many chords<\/strong> there actually are. Just take a look at a lead sheet or a piece of sheet music: major chords<\/strong>, minor chords<\/strong>, sus chords<\/strong>\u2026 Do you need to know them all? Should you know what a chord is<\/a>? For every key? You’ll find the answers to these questions here. Just keep reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So: how many chords are there, actually? There are probably an infinite number of chords. The question is hard to answer precisely, because there are so many ways to build chords \u2013 and that in turn depends heavily on the musical tradition and style.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if there are so many chords, do you have to know them all by heart? No, you don’t. It’s enough to understand the basic principles<\/strong> \u2013 and then to master them 120%. In this article, I’ll explain how to get started and which principles matter most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Basic Understanding of Chords<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When you have a piece in front of you with a certain number of chords, the piece will first of all move within a particular key<\/strong>. You can think of each key<\/a><\/strong> as a room in a house. The chords that go together are all in the same room \u2013 in other words, in the same key.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So every key has a certain number of chords. They are always built the same way, and they’re called diatonic chords<\/strong>. But how many chords<\/strong> is that? Which chords belong to which key is a topic of harmony theory<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Many Chords Are There?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The question of how many chords<\/strong> there are is hard to answer, because there are so many ways to build chords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Western music, the simplest chords are triads<\/strong>, which consist of three notes, and seventh chords<\/strong> (four-note chords, also called tetrads), which consist of four notes. But chords can also contain five, six or even more notes, especially in genres like jazz and progressive rock. There are also extended chords, which add notes beyond the octave of the root, such as 9th, 11th and 13th chords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can also consider different types of chords, such as major<\/strong>, minor<\/strong>, diminished<\/strong>, augmented<\/strong> and so on. Each of these chords can start on any of the 12 notes of the chromatic scale, which results in a large number of basic chords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On top of that come the different inversions<\/strong> of chords (that is, the order in which the notes are stacked), the octave position<\/strong>, the exact voicing<\/strong> (the specific choice of notes and how they are arranged within the chord) and other musical aspects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So if we take all these factors into account, there is in fact an infinite number of chords that could be created. It really depends on how we define a “chord\" and how broad we want our definition to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Many Chords Do You Need to Know?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As a beginner, you only need to understand major and minor chords<\/a><\/strong>. They are the most important ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In each key, for example C major, we have 3 major<\/strong> and 3 minor chords<\/strong> plus one diminished chord<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are 12 major keys<\/strong> in total, and each of them in turn has 3 major chords, 3 minor chords and one diminished chord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How many chords<\/strong> is that? Imagine you started right now and tried to memorize all of these chords without any context. I can already tell you one thing: you would be completely overwhelmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start by Learning Only the (Diatonic) Chords of C Major<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To begin with, choose the key that seems easiest to you, for example C major. Then you can start learning its chords \u2013 and in more depth than just from a chord chart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn the notes of the chords, too. Once you know them, you can play the chords any way you like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Many Triads Are There?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Besides the question of how many chords<\/strong> there are, another question comes up: how many triads<\/strong> are there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To answer it, you need to understand the following: a triad<\/a> is a combination of three notes<\/strong> that can either be stacked in thirds<\/strong> (that is, every other note of a diatonic scale) or arranged in another musical structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most basic types of triads in Western music are major<\/strong>, minor<\/strong>, diminished<\/strong> and augmented<\/strong> triads<\/strong>. Each of them can start on any of the 12 chromatic notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That makes 4 times 12, or 48 basic triads<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In practice, however, other factors can matter too, such as the octave position and the inversions of the chords, which increase the number of possible triads. For example, a C major triad (C\u2013E\u2013G) in root position has a different tone color than in first inversion (E\u2013G\u2013C) or in second inversion (G\u2013C\u2013E).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So depending on how specifically or broadly we want to define the “number of triads\", the number can vary considerably. Besides triads, there are also seventh chords. You’ll find out what they’re all about in the next section.<\/p>\n\n\n

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How Many Seventh Chords Are There?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Seventh chords<\/strong>, also called four-note chords or tetrads<\/strong>, are chords made up of four notes<\/strong>. As with triads, the number of seventh chords can vary considerably depending on how broadly you define them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The basic types of seventh chords in Western music are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n