: Chords available in a certain Key? I am a total beginner here so please bear with me. When you have a certain key, let's take C, we have C D E F G A B C Looking at the wheel of fifths, my available chords are F C G major

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To make any of those chords, you can use them in a triad. That is, all three notes but (as Eric Morecombe said) not necessarily in the right order! That's because there is not really a right order.

There are different ways of voicing chords. The way you are considering is close voicing, where all three notes are as close to each other as possible. Taking a C major close triad, it could be voiced in 3 ways - root position, C E G; 1st inversion - E G C; or 2nd inversion - G C E.

However, putting those three notes in any order still results in a C major chord. You could have double bass play a low C, a trumpet play a middle(ish) G, and a piccolo play a high E. That's still a C chord.

So, yes, you can move out of the octave (or as many octaves as you like...) and while it will still be and sound like a C chord, the subtle difference will be in the voicing - the way it sounds.

And while we're on the subject, the root position chord sounds the most stable (and it could be played C G E in open voicing. Putting the G underneath (G C E, or G E C) will sound the next strongest, leaving 1st inversion (E G C or E C G) as the weakest sounding. Although it does get used in certain circumstances.

Hope this clarifies things. Try not to think it's complicated - it's really quite straightforward. And, as with any musical query, just try out what you think may or may not work. General feeling is - if it sounds good, it probably is. And no-one gets punished for 'breaking the rules' - they're not rules!

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You do not need to stay in the octave of the key you are in, or any other octave for that matter. The formula of every other note, or (1, 3 ,5) for Maj, (1, b3, 5) for min etc help you pick the correct notes but those notes can (1) be played in any order creating inversions of the chords or triads, (2) include repeated notes to make the chord more full sounding, and (3) be anywhere in the range of the instrument in theory.

Take for example the Key of C. Think of your available notes as being the repeating sequence,

C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C ...

We sometimes label the letters with a number to remind us of what octave we are in, for example,

C1 D1 E1 F1 G1 A1 B1 C2 D2 E2 F2 G2 A2 B2 C3 D3 E3 F3 G3 A3 B3 C4 D4 E4 F4 G4 A4 B4 C5 ...

Then you can grab any of the triads you listed in their "root" position, (1, 3, 5). For example your G starting on G1 is (G1, B1, D2) etc.

You can get all your chords to stay within an octave by rearranging the notes to make an inversion. These are much more interesting in terms of chord movement and harmony.

Root position (I had learned or remember inversion) has the root note, the 1 in the bass. The first inversion has the second note, the 3rd in the bass, and the second inversion has the 5th in the bass.

In the Key of C all your triads can fit into one octave and will have the following format.

I = C Maj (C, E, G) root position

ii = D min (D, F, A) root position

iii = E min (E, G, B) root position

IV = F Maj (F, A, C) root position

V = G Maj (D, G, B) first inversion

vi = A min (E, A, C) first inversion

vii = B dim (F, D, B) second inversion

Things get more interesting with 7th chords but the same logic applies.