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Understanding the natural progression of scales in contemporary Jazz and Classical styles is a key to song writing and can also be used in practice.

This image of the circle of fifths / cycle of fourths is reversed to most you will see. The Cycle of Fourths runs clockwise and the Cycle of Fifths runs anti-clockwise. It still all means the same this and is created in the same way. Notice as we cycle through the fourths that a flat is added on that side of the image. When practicing or writing in a contemporary or Jazz style it can be handy to cycle your chord progression around in the fashion of the cycle of fourths. Alternatively, you can go the other way for a more classical style. How many songs have been written with a chord progression that goes C - G - D and then the occasional A. You’re probably doing it and don’t even know why.

When you circle through the fifths what you are doing is starting the next Major Triad or scale on the Fifth increment of the previous. If you want a Jazz feel go the other way and play the fourth increment.

An easy way to remember the cycle or the circle is to know that the keys (without incidentals) are C at the top, F then BEAD G BEAD G in the direction of the cycle of fourths. The first BEAD G is all flat and the second is all natural.

The theory of chord construction is no more complex then learning formulas in Math. If you weren’t very good at math at school then I’ll let you know that the numbers you are working with a quite small and you don’t need any other arithmetic skill then you would have in early grade school.

It is important to understand Major Scale theory. Scale theory can get a little complex and complete knowledge of all scales is unnecessary for understand how chord is constructed.

During these chord examples that I will go through, a chord will be often referred to as a triad. Triad being a group of three notes that harmonise together.

Some Quick Major Scale Theory (start here):
A major scale is a group of 7 different notes and an octave. We can start on any note but for this example we’ll use C. When starting on C, creating a C major Scale there are no Sharps or Flats. So a C Major scale will run through like this

C Major - c,d,e,f,g,a,b,c

The formula for creating a major scale needs to be understood. Each increment of increasing pitch is called a half tone. For example: going from C to C# would be considered to be a Half Tone (also known as a half step). If we W to represent a Whole Tone or Whole Step (being two half tones or the step from a C to D) and H to represent a Half Tone or Half Step (the Step up from C to C#) we can create a Major Scale formula that looks like this:

Major Scale Formula: W-W-H-W-W-W-H

Here’s a chart to make it as clear as possible (note: we refer to first C in this scale as the ROOT):

The final thing that you need to know is that each note is represented in chord construction theory as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc or ROOT, 2,3,4,5,6,7. You’ll also need to know that when when we play the note as is ,without a flat or sharp, it will be accompanied by M or P, example M3 meaning the major third or P5 which is a perfect 5th). If a note is flat it will be represented as something like m3 - further examples will be included when it is pertinent do so.

With that information in hand you can start creating Chords on your own, with your instrument and without a chord chart. The best way to work through the knowledge would be with Keyboard or Piano.

I’ve done my best to keep all this information as simple as I can. Read through it a couple times and refer back to this post if required.