Julie Swihart

Fifth Chords

Let’s look at how to play a G5 (G fifth) chord on the piano. We’ll also learn the pattern for building any fifth chord.

What Are Fifth Chords?

Fifth chords aren’t actually chords, since chords have three or more notes (fifth chords only have two notes). But we’ll call them chords since they behave like chords.

Fifth chords are built using the first and fifth notes of the matching major scale.

Another way to think of building a fifth chord is to use the lowest and highest notes of the matching major (or minor) chord. So to build a fifth chord, you could play the first and fifth notes of the matching major scale, or you could play the lowest and highest notes of the matching major or minor chord.

Chord Types Printable

Learn to play 17 types of piano chords using 12 different root notes with this 34-page PDF! Chords are sorted both by their root note (C, D, E, etc.) and type (major, minor, augmented, diminished, etc.).

Get the Printable

How to Play a G5 Chord

So to play a G5 chord, we can play the first and fifth notes of the G major scale: G – D These are also the lowest and highest notes of a G major chord (omitting the B) or G minor chord (omitting the B♭).

To play a G5 chord, we’d play:

G – D

You can use this pattern to build any fifth chord. Just play the first and fifth notes of the matching major scale, or play the lowest and highest notes of the matching major or minor chord.

Other Chord Types

Here are some other types of chords you can learn:

Major
Minor
Augmented
Diminished
Second
Minor second
Suspended
Sixth
Minor sixth
Seventh
Minor seventh
Major seventh
Ninth
Minor ninth
Major ninth

Conclusion

Now you know how to play a G5 chord on the piano, and you can use that pattern to build any other fifth chord!

Piano chords are a wonderful way to learn and enjoy the piano. Using patterns to build chords helps you understand the piano as an instrument, and provides lots of room for creativity.