In this lesson we will take a look at the 4 types of triads and their inversions. The 4 types of triads are called Major,Minor,Diminished and Augmented. A triad is a chord containing only 3 notes the (Root, 3rd and 5th) taken from the scale to form a chord. All chords are based on these 4 types of triads.
The major triad has the intervals 1,3,5, the minor triad has the intervals 1,b3,5, the diminished triad has the intervals 1,b3,b5 and the augmented triad has the intervals 1,3,#5. In this lesson we have laid out all 4 types of triads in arpeggio form. In the first Arpeggio "C Major Root Position" you will see the arpeggio starting on 3,5,5 (1,2,3 strings) then 5,5,5 (2,3,4 strings) then 5,5,7 (3,4,5 strings) and finally 5,7,8 (4,5,6 strings) so we have 3 inversions "per 3 strings" moving down the guitar neck. Note: The 3,5,5 and 5,7,8 use the same notes, but the 5,7,8 is an octave lower. See the included attachments below for a sound sample and the guitar tab layout of this lesson.
C Major Root Position C Major First Inversion
E||--3---------------------|--8------------------------|
B||-----5------------------|-----8---------------------|
G||--------5---------------|--------9------------------|
D||-----------5------------|-----------10--------------|
A||--------------7---------|---------------10----------|
E||-----------------8------|-------------------12------|
C Major Second Inversion C Minor Root Position
--12--------------------------|--3---------------------|
------13----------------------|-----4------------------|
----------12------------------|--------5---------------|
--------------14--------------|-----------5------------|
------------------15----------|--------------6---------|
----------------------15------|-----------------8------|
C Minor First Inversion C Minor Second Inversion
--8------------------------|--11-----------------------|
-----8---------------------|------13-------------------|
--------8------------------|----------12---------------|
-----------10--------------|--------------13-----------|
---------------10----------|------------------15-------|
-------------------12------|----------------------15---|
C Dim Root Position C Dim First Inversion
--2---------------------|--8---------------------------|
-----4------------------|-----7------------------------|
--------5---------------|--------8---------------------|
-----------4------------|-----------8------------------|
--------------6---------|--------------9---------------|
-----------------8------|-----------------11-----------|
C Dim Second Inversion C Aug Root Position
--11--------------------------|--4---------------------|
------13----------------------|-----5------------------|
----------11------------------|--------5---------------|
--------------13--------------|-----------6------------|
------------------15----------|--------------7---------|
----------------------14------|-----------------8------|
C Aug First Inversion C Aug Second Inversion
--8------------------------|--12-----------------------|
-----9---------------------|------13-------------------|
--------9------------------|----------13---------------|
-----------10--------------|--------------14-----------|
---------------11----------|------------------15-------|
-------------------12------|----------------------16---|
Click to hear examples
