If you ever wanted to play the guitar you might have encountered something that looks like Am or C. Those are called chords and you might not believe it but there is quite much behind those small signs.
For chords you need basic knowledge about notes and scales so if you haven’t read the articles about those topics you should start there first and then continue with this article.

A basic chord in music notation looks like three notes written above each other like a snowman. Every scale has a chord and its variations. That is why the chord is always called after a scale. For example the Am chord is based on the A minor scale. A basic chord always consists of the first, the third and the fifth note of a scale. So a chord of an A minor scale consists of the note A, the note C and the note E. If the scale is a minor scale the chord is also a minor chord. The same goes for Major ones. The chord of the A minor scale is called Am or A minor chord. To see if a chord is a minor or major chord you can always look at the scale, but if you don’t know the scale you also could count the half tune steps from the first note to the second note (the third note of the scale or the note right above the basic note in the snowman) or from the second note to the third note (the fifth note of a scale or the head of the snowman). Is the distance between the bottom part of the snowman to the middle part of the snowman four half tune steps and the distance from the middle part to the top part three half tune steps you have a major chord. If it is the other way around and the distance between the bottom and the middle is three and the distance between the middle and the top is four you have a minor chord. There are also special chords that have both three tune steps between all parts of the snowman. Those are called diminished chords. If you have four half tune steps between the parts of the snowman you have another special chord called excessively chords. Both are basic chords from major or minor scales changed with accidentals so they meet those special conditions.

A basic chord can take three forms. The basic form that looks like a snowman and the first and second inversion. The first inversion is formed when you take the bottom part of the snowman and move it one octave higher. Now it looks like the bottom part of the snowman is flying over the head of the original snowman. The second inversion is formed when you take the first inversion but you write the bottom note of the first inversion also on octave higher. From the basic chord there is only the head of the snowman left and the rest of the body now flies over it in the air.

There is much more about chords but this is quite enough for beginners to know. If you are interessted in advanced chords, there will be another article about advanced chords and cadences. For now I wish you a lot of fun with making music and keep on learning.