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Dissonant Chords on Guitar. Notes that are a semitone or tone away from each other (or the octave) are usually notes that create the kind of dissonance that becomes pleasing in chords. Let’s start by exploring the sound of a semitone (Minor 2nd), so you can hear the clash!
In the next chapter we will introduce the seventh chord, a four note tertian harmony that adds a chord tone a distance of a third above the fifth chord tone of a triad, forming a dissonant interval of a seventh in relationship to the root.
Chords built only of consonances sound pleasant and "stable"; you can listen to one for a long time without feeling that the music needs to change to a different chord. Notes that are dissonant can sound harsh or unpleasant when played at the same time.
The easiest dissonant "chord" would be something like a V7 (let's say G7 in Cmajor) which uses the 7th interval as the dissonant, leading tone to guide the ear back to I. Essentially, you are looking at VII and II as being your predominantly dissonant intervals, while III and VI will be harmonic.
If the chord contains only consonant intervals, it will sound consonant. But if it contains even one dissonant interval, the whole chord will sound dissonant (Table 36 below; Figure 41 below).
The consonance or dissonance of a chord is related, but it's not a very strong relationship in many cases. The best example I can think of is sometimes a very dissonant, tense chord structure resolves to a target chord. For instance C#dim7 may resolve to Dmin7, or Eb7#11 may resolve to Dmaj7.
In Chorale 96, the alto C# creates a new chord of vii°7. In situations like this, the auxiliary note is not dissonant, and this could alternatively be analysed as an auxiliary chord.
