That's it exactly - Mocha. Dm is called 'minor' because there's only one and a half tones between its first two notes compared to the interval between the C and E notes of C major which is two tones. You've got it!
Next:
"when we talk about the notes that chords contain we always refer to the major scale only" does this mean we dont have chords arising out of minor scales?"
We can make chords out of minor scales too - they've got their major and minor chords too for the same reasons that I mentioned. (bigger and smaller intervals).
I just meant that when we talk about different types of chords, it makes sense to refer everything to just one type of scale - so every chord has a formula that means we can find the notes by referring to just the major scale.
Examples Chord + major scale notes
Major chord = 1, 3 5
Minor chord = 1 b3 5
diminished = 1 b3 b5
augmented = 1 3 #5
Dominant 7th = 1 3 5 b7
Minor 7th = 1 b3 5 b7
Sus 4 = 1 4 5
6th = 1 3 5 6
Min 6th = 1 b3 5 6
You see? - It's far simpler if we construct every chord by referring to just one type of scale and making modifications (# & b) where necessary. We could choose to do it with any scale but the formula for each chord would be different - so we just use the major. And that is the standard way that's used by all theory books.
So if you want to quickly make a chord such as G minor, there's no need to think of notes 1, 3 & 5 of the G minor scale, just find notes 1 b3 & 5 of the G MAJOR scale = G Bb & D
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