ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Chord alteration

Ok, let's pretend that we have a special type of music puzzle. In this puzzle, we have a secret code that we need to crack to play some cool sounds on a guitar or piano. This secret code is called a chord. A chord is like a group of notes that we play together to make a nice sound.

Now, sometimes we want to make our sound a little bit different and more interesting. That's where chord alteration comes in. Chord alteration is like adding special decorations to our sound to make it stand out. It's kind of like adding sprinkles on top of our ice cream to make it tastier.

There are a few different ways we can alter our chords. One way is by changing one or more of the notes in the chord. For example, let's say our chord has three notes: C, E, and G. Normally, we would play these three notes together to make a C chord. But if we want to alter it, we can change one of the notes. Maybe instead of playing E, we could play E flat. This little change will give our chord a different flavor.

Another way we can alter our chords is by changing the order of the notes. Normally, we would play the notes of a chord in a certain order, like C, E, G. But if we want to alter it, we can mix up the order. Maybe we could play G, C, E instead. This will give our chord a different sound.

One more way we can alter our chords is by adding some extra notes. Normally, a chord has just a few notes, like three or four. But if we want to alter it, we can add some more notes to the mix. These extra notes will add more complexity and color to our sound.

So, to summarize, chord alteration is all about adding special decorations to our chords to make them more interesting. We can change the notes in the chord, change the order of the notes, or even add some extra notes. It's like adding sprinkles to our ice cream to make it extra yummy.