DIATONIC CHORDS

Diatonic chords are chords that are created using only the diatonic tones in the current key. Diatonic tones were explained in chapter Diatonic and altered tones.

In the study of harmony, it is common to examine the diatonic chords on all the scale degrees i.e. each scale degree of a chosen key is used as the chord root for a diatonic chord. In the following chapters, we shall first examine the diatonic chords in the major keys and then in the minor keys. We shall examine both the diatonic triad chords and diatonic seventh chords.