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Hey folks!
In today’s topic we’re going to finally start applying the concepts we have worked on in the two previous articles to build our first chords. Notice that I have been writing articles from the simplest concepts to more complex ones, all that to give you a solid understanding of the fundamentals. Don’t try to absorb all the information of this blog at once, try to explore each article individually, apply its concept, memorize the most important information and then you move to the next one. There’s so much to learn with each one of them and I'll always summarize the content in tables that you can find in the middle of the reading. You should first study “Simple Intervals” and “Compound Intervals” to benefit the most out of this article.
In case you need to jump to any other article, you can just click on any of them:
Simples Intervals -> Compound Intervals -> Triads -> Drop-2 Chords -> Drop-3 Chords -> Shell Chords & Extensions -> Triads & Extensions -> Chord Melody -> Guitar Arpeggios -> Guitar Scales -> Major Keys -> Minor Keys -> Harmonic Minor Keys -> Melodic Minor Keys -> Greek Modes -> Chord Progressions
WHAT ARE TRIADS?
Triads are the most basic chord structure in Western music, and they are made up of 3 different notes. Within these 3 notes, one of them is particularly important, and we’re going to call it the “root”. You might’ve read that term a few times in the previous articles and the reason is because of its importance. The root is the note that gives a chord, a scale, an arpeggio, etc., their main names. i.e., the root of the G major chord is G; the root of the A minor chord is A; the root of the C augmented chord is C; the root of the E natural minor scale is E, the root of the F7sus4(addb13) chord is F; and so on.
Rodrigo: Got it?
Student: I think so.
Well, now that you know that the root is responsible for giving chords their names, the next step is to understand the chords’ qualities. The second most important note of a triad is its “third” and it will define if the chord is either major or minor. We call it the third because this note is either a major third or a minor third above the root. If you have a good understanding of intervals, you already know that the major third interval is equivalent to 2 whole steps and a minor third is equivalent to 1 ½ step (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, please read the “Simple Intervals” article). So, let’s say we were looking for ways to play the C major chord: since we already know that the root is the easiest note to be found, which in this case is C, we just have to measure 2 whole steps above C to find our major third, which in this case is E.
[root and third of C major]
If we were looking for its minor third, we would measure 1 ½ step above the root and get to Eb.
[root and third of C minor]
The last note of a triad is the “fifth” and this is the note that will define if a given chord is diminished, augmented, or just a regular major or minor chord. To be a “regular” major or minor chord, we need to add to those two previous notes a perfect fifth above the root. Since a perfect fifth is equivalent to 3 ½ steps, measuring that distance from the root, we’ll get to G. To summarize, what defines a major chord is: their root, a major third above the root, and a perfect fifth above the root, or if you want to put it into to a formula, we could write it as:
[major triad formula]
[R 3 5] or [1 3 5]
[root, third, and fifth of C major]
What defines a minor chord is: their root, a minor third above the root, and a perfect fifth above the root, or if you want to put it into to a formula, we could write it as:
[minor triad formula]
[R b3 5] or [1 b3 5]
[root, third, and fifth of C minor]
Now that you have understood the idea of how to get to triad formulas, I’m going to briefly give the next definitions. A diminished chord is defined as a minor chord that contains a diminished fifth (in this case, Gb is the diminished fifth of C) above the root. Then the formula should be:
[diminished triad formula]
[R b3 b5] or [1 b3 b5]
[root, third, and fifth of C diminished]
Notice that I had to play this chord in another region of the fretboard since there was no Gb available in the same position.
Last but not least, the augmented triad is a major triad with an augmented fifth above the root (G#, in this case). Then, the formula should be:
[augmented triad formula]
[root, third, and fifth of C augmented]
IMPORTANT THOUGHTS
Many musicians will define triads as being “notes stacked vertically in thirds”, and since this is commonly said, I think it’s important to explain. Let’s take the C major triad as an example one more time. We have the notes C, E, G, and between them are two different intervals: From C to E we have a major third interval and from E to G we have a minor third.
So, we could also define the major triad as: [major third; minor third]
The minor triad as: [minor third; major third]
The diminished triad as: [minor third; minor third]
The augmented triad as: [major third; major third]
I personally don’t like to think this way. I think “root, third, and fifth” is faster and gets straight to the point.
Something else that is very important to mention is how to correctly name the notes. In the “Simple Intervals” article I gave a brief description of what “enharmony” means, and just to quickly review it, it means that two notes with exact the same sound (or pitch) might have two different names. i.e., we found out that the notes belonging to the C minor triad are C, Eb, and G. Well, why not call it D# instead of Eb? The reason is pretty simple, and it’s because I called the interval “a minor third”, if I had said “an augmented second” then we would name it as D#.
A good way to always make sure you’re naming it correctly is to span all the letters there are within the interval. Then, for example, if someone asked you “what’s the third of C?”, notice that we didn’t mention if the third is major or minor yet. All you have to do is to consider C as your starting point and span all the letters until you get to the third one. In this case, we would have C, D, and E. We consider E being the third of C because it’s the third letter of the sequence. Which means that, no matter the quality of the chord, the third will always be some type of E. If it’s a major chord it’ll be E, and if it’s a minor chord it’ll be Eb. The same thing is applied to all the other notes. Let’s take the fifth as an example now. The fifth of C will always be some type of G, because when spanning the letters between C and G, we’ll have C, D, E, F, and G. Now, if you were looking for the perfect fifth it'd be called G, if we were looking for the diminished fifth, it’d be called Gb, never F#, if you were looking the augmented fifth, it’d be called G#, never Ab.
Rodrigo: I’ll give you a more complex example now. Since you understood the whole process on how to find the third and the fifth of any chord, if I asked you right now “what is the third of A?” you would answer C right away, correct?
Student: Of course!
Rodrigo: Then, the same rules are applied. The minor third of A would be C, since they’re a 1 ½ step apart, and the major third would be C#, since they are 2 whole steps apart. C is always the third of A, no matter what!
Rodrigo: Now, let’s say I asked you the same exact question, but instead of A I wanted to know the third of Ab.
Student: Well, if you said that C is always the third of A, it should be some type of C too, right?
Rodrigo: Correct! But in this case, the major third would be C and the minor third would be Cb.
Student: Cb is a note?
Rodrigo: Yes! And if you don’t believe me, go to Google right now and look for “A minor key signature” or even “Gb major key signature”. You’ll see that both of them contain Cb.
Student: That’s right!
Rodrigo: Don’t worry about it now. It’ll get more clear as we approach topics like tensions, which I’ll explore in my “Triads Extensions” article. For now, just keep in mind that notes like B#, Cb, E#, and Fb also exist. Not to mention the double-flats and double-sharps.
CHORD TONES
Chord tones are the notes used in the formation of chords, which usually are the roots, thirds, and fifths. When we get to studying 7th-chords, you'll see that the 7ths are used to form more complex chords too, so they can also be considered chord tones. Besides that, any other notes we add to the chords will be called “tensions”. Tensions usually come after the chord’s name either in between parentheses or sometimes with the term “add” before i.e., Cmaj7(add13). The 13th is a tension, and Cmaj7 indicates the chord tones. We’ll see more of this when we discuss “Triads Extensions”.
VOICINGS
Voicings are the way we choose to play the chords and how to connect them. So far, I have given you all the information you need in order to find any major, minor, diminished, and augmented triad on your instrument, but something that I haven’t mentioned yet is that you can play those notes in any order. If you play the C major triad with any combination of its chord tones (C E G), you’ll still have a C major chord. i.e. C, E, G; or E, G, C; or G, C, E. They are all versions of the same chord, anywhere you play those notes on the fretboard will give you the C major triad sound.
Student: So, you’re saying that I could play a C major chord like this?
Rodrigo: That's right! But the reason you don’t see anybody playing a chord like that is because it would be very hard to strum. To avoid this, musicians ended up standardizing a few common ways to play chords, which I’m going to show you in the next paragraph, but at this point I’d like you to understand how deep this concept is. If you know how chords are built, you can find your own ways to play any chords. That might sound a little complex now, but that's the goal of every artist, to find their own voice. No pun intended!
ROOT-POSITION vs. INVERSIONS
To say that “No matter the order of the chord tones, the name of the chord will still be the same” does not mean that they are going to be written in the same way. If the C major triad is played in the following order: C E G, we are going to call it C major triad in the root-position or just C major.
[C major in the root-position]
The chord symbol starts changing when the lowest note is not the root anymore. If the third is the lowest note of the chord (E G C), then we are going to call it “the first inversion of C major” or “C major over E” or even “C over E”.
[First inversion of C major]
If the fifth is the lowest note of the chord (G C E), then we are going to call it “the second inversion of C major” or “C major over G” or even “C over G”.
[Second inversion of C major]
4-NOTE VOICINGS; 5-NOTE VOICINGS; 6-NOTE VOICINGS
If you have some experience playing guitar and know all the first “basic” chords (C, D, Dm, E, Em, G, A, Am, etc.) you probably have noticed that when we actually play these chords, we strum more than 3 strings (or you might think more than 3 notes). But, in reality, we are actually playing the same 3 notes all the time. Since strumming only three notes on your guitar might be challenging and not very interesting, we found ways to double some of the same notes to make the chord easily playable. I’ll give you some examples with the same C major triads we’ve been using:
[3-note voicing C E G]
[4-note voicing C E G C]
[5-note voicing C E G C E]
[6-note voicing E C E G C E]
For the 6-note voicing, I could’ve used the regular C major barre chord as well, but in another region of the fretboard.
[6-note voicing C G C E G C]
Triads are the most basic and also the most complex topic we are going to ever approach, and that’s because there are countless applications to them, not just understanding the structure of fundamental chords. By mixing different triads, we’ll be able to build very complex scales, arpeggios, and voicings. Wait until we start talking about Triad/Pairs, Hexatonic scales, Twelve-Tone Row, 23rd-chords, among others.
Student: I have one more question! Will triads always have the same format (root, third, fifth)?
Rodrigo: Most of the time, but I also included in this article the most common exceptions you can find.
TABLE OF TRIADS
ALL TYPES OF TRIADS
All the following examples will be given in the key of C and always using the mid-higher strings.
MAJOR TRIADS
Root-position: C E G [R 3 5]
1st-inversion: E G C [3 5 R]
2nd-inversion: G C E [5 R 3]
MINOR TRIADS
Root-position: C Eb G [R b3 5]
1st-inversion: Eb G C [b3 5 R]
2nd-inversion: G C Eb [5 R b3]
DIMINISHED TRIADS
Root-position: C Eb Gb [R b3 b5]
1st-inversion: Eb Gb C [b3 b5 R]
2nd-inversion: Gb C Eb [b5 R b3]
AUGMENTED TRIADS
Root-position: C E G# [R 3 #5]
1st-inversion: E G# C [3 #5 R]
2nd-inversion: G# C E [#5 R 3]
SUSPENDED 4th TRIADS
Root-position: C F G [R 4 5]
1st-inversion: F G C [4 5 R]
2nd-inversion: G C F [5 R 4]
SUSPENDED 2nd TRIADS
Root-position: C D G [R 2 5]
1st-inversion: D G C [2 5 R]
2nd-inversion: G C D [5 R 2]
The following two triads are based on two Greek modes: the Lydian mode (fourth degree of the natural major scale) and the Phrygian mode (third degree of the natural major scale). For obvious reasons, these two triads will make more sense when we get to that topic, because their application relies on your comprehension of the characteristic notes of each mode and their context.
Some people might have a different understanding of what the Lydian triad is; some might describe it as being the root, the augmented fourth, and the perfect fifth [R #4 5] as well. Both of them will give you the Lydian characteristic sound when used in the correct context, but I decided to use the root, major third, and diminished fifth because this triad will be the foundation to understand more complex chords such as the dominant 7(b5) and the major 7(b5) chords.
LYDIAN TRIADS
Root-position: C E Gb [R 3 b5]
1st-inversion: E Gb C [3 b5 R]
2nd-inversion: Gb C E [b5 R 3]
PHRYGIAN TRIADS
Root-position: C Db G [R b2 5]
1st-inversion: Db G C [b2 5 R]
2nd-inversion: G C Db [5 R b2]
HOW TO PRACTICE TRIADS?
Triads are the most useful and complex topic we’ll ever study in music. They can be used for comping, soloing/improvising, composing, and many other applications. As I mentioned before, when we get to topics like Triad Pairs, Hexatonics, Twelve-Tone Row, and 23rd-chords, the possibilities will be infinite. Since we are just introducing this topic, I’ll give you a few simple ways on how to practice them and recommend what you can do in case you already have some experience.
1) If you’re a complete beginner, try to analyze all the chords you already know. Play them, try to identify where the root, the third, and the fifth are being played. How many of these notes are being repeated? Can you find different ways to play that same chord in another part of your instrument? Try to find ways to play chords that you don’t know yet. Maybe you know how to play the A major chord, but not the Ab major. Also, play one chord that you know very well: let’s say G major. Can you make it into a G minor chord? Can you make it into a G diminished chord? How about the other triads?
2) Try to choose a different chord quality every day and ask yourself: Can I find the C major triad in all the sets of 3 adjacent strings? Can I play the major triads in all the 12 keys (C, Db, D, Eb, E, F, Gb, G, Ab, A, Bb, B)? How about the other triads? All these exercises help you to develop fluency at your instrument.
3) Find different ways to play songs that you already know. The same chords can be found in other regions of your instrument.
4) Practice the triads horizontally. Choose a set of 3 adjacent strings and try to find, let’s say, the C major triad in the root-position, in the 1st- inversion, and in the 2nd-inversion. All of them can be found on the same strings! Play them back and forth for a few minutes and repeat the same exercise on a different set of strings.
[Example of C major triad and its inversions organized horizontally]
5) Practice the triads vertically. Establish a limit for yourself, for example, can you play the C major triad and its inversions between the open strings (fret zero) and the fifth fret? How about from the fifth fret to the twelfth? Of course, in this case you would have to change the set of strings for every triad you play.
[Example of C major triad and its inversions organized vertically]
6) Even if you're not a beginner, I still think you can benefit from the previous exercises. You might not see a lot of applications for them now, but even just as exercises, they’ll help you a lot to visualize scales and arpeggios when soloing. The goal here is to become fluent at your fretboard and know where every single note is, and this is one of the most important exercises to achieve that type of proficiency. If you feel like taking this to the next level, you should look for Mick Goodrick’s books: The Advancing Guitarist, Almanac of Guitar Voice-Leading vol. 1 and 2 and practice all the Cycles exercises in it (it’ll take years, by the way). I’m not going to discuss these books deeply now, because I’m planning on writing a whole article about them in the future.
HELP ME CREATE THE BEST GUITAR METHOD IN THE WORLD!
As a thank you for reading this far, I’m excited to introduce my latest release, Book of Chords. This book shows you how to take the chord concepts from this website (Triads, Drop-2 chords, Drop-3 chords, Shell Chords & Extensions, Triads & Extensions, Arranging Songs) and use them to create new voicings, arrange songs, build fresh lines for your solos, and expand your rhythmic vocabulary. The original price was $50, but I’ve lowered it to make it easier for more people to grab a copy.
All I ask in return is a little feedback. Let me know what you think—whether anything was tricky to understand, if there’s something I should add, or if you’ve got any other thoughts. I update my books all the time, and you’ll get every new version with everyone’s suggestions. Hopefully, one day this site will be a full platform for guitar theory courses with your help!
Shoot me your questions or thoughts at info@guitartheorylessons.com, and I’ll get back to you in a few days.
Digital Download
PDF Sheet Music + TAB (228 pages)
This book uses the Triads & Extensions topic to demonstrate all the exercises, but the concepts can be applied just as effectively to Triads, Drop-2, Drop-3, Shell Chords, Extensions, and even song arrangements.
What's Included?
Instructions
Appendix of Triads & Extensions
Harmonizing (Creating interesting voicings to comp and arrange)
Arpeggios Drills (Economic picking exercises + Creating new arpeggios using different voicings)
Chromatic Approaches (Bebop style technique)
Rhythmic Vocabulary
All types of triads with extensions in all 12 keys!
Triads included:
major triads
minor triads
major triads w/ dominant function
diminished triads
suspended 4th triads
augmented triads
Lydian triads
augmented triads w/ dominant function
Lydian triads w/ dominant function
Extensions included:
If you're looking for something simpler, you can find the Appendix of Triads in all 12 keys, plus other topics like Major & Minor Scales Harmonized with Different Intervals (Simple and Compound Intervals), Drop-2 chords, Drop-3 chords, Shell Chords, Arpeggios, and Scales & Modes, in the STORE section or by clicking the link below:
All of these theory concepts are available for free on my blog to anyone interested in learning more about music. However, producing this content is time-consuming, so if you found this article helpful, please leave a comment and hit the like button at the bottom of this page! Thank you for everything!
All my best,
Rodrigo Moreira