In this installment Triad Improvisation Part 2. We will take a look at triads on the 4,3,2 strings of the guitar. As mentioned in Part 1. A triad is a chord with only 3 notes. They are built by using the (1) Root (3rd) and (5th) of the major scale if the triad is Major. In the key of G the notes would be G,B,D
Again we will use the major chord forms as a reference to the rest of the triads to keep things simple. The major form is the first chord in each example followed by augmented,minor then diminished. You should also memorize each form!
Note: There's three forms total since there's only three notes.
Make sure you listen to each midi file example.
|----------|
|----3-----|
|----4-----|
|----5-----|
|----------|
|----------|
Major Aug. Minor Dim.
|------------------|---------------------|
|-----3-3------4-4-|-----3-3------2-2----|
|---4--------4-----|---3--------3--------|
|-5--------5-------|-5--------5----------|
|------------------|---------------------|
|------------------|---------------------|
Listen to Example 1
As mentioned in Part 1. Major and Augmented chords are Major based and the Minor and Diminished chords are Minor based. This is determined by the 3rd degree. All major chords contain a Major 3rd and all Minor Chords contain a Minor 3rd.
|----------|
|----8-----|
|----7-----|
|----9-----|
|----------|
|----------|
Major Aug. Minor Dim.
|------------------|---------------------|
|-----8-8------8-8-|-----8-8------8-8----|
|---7--------8-----|---7--------6--------|
|-9--------9-------|-8--------8----------|
|------------------|---------------------|
|------------------|---------------------|
Listen to Example 2.
|----------|
|---12-----|
|---12-----|
|---12-----|
|----------|
|----------|
Major Aug. Minor Dim.
|--------------------------|-----------------------------|
|-------12-12--------12-12-|-------11-11--------11-11----|
|----12-----------12-------|----12-----------12----------|
|-12-----------13----------|-12-----------11-------------|
|--------------------------|-----------------------------|
|--------------------------|-----------------------------|
Listen to Example 3.
Now when we put them all together we have a total of 12 chords.
3 Major
3 Minor
3 Diminished
3 Augmented
Major Augmented Minor Diminished
|-------------|-------------|-------------|------------|
|-3--8--12----|-4--8--12----|-3--8--11----|-2--8--11---|
|-4--7--12----|-4--8--12----|-3--7--12----|-3--6--12---|
|-5--9--12----|-5--9--13----|-5--8--12----|-5--8--11---|
|-------------|-------------|-------------|------------|
|-------------|-------------|-------------|------------|
Listen to Example 4.
You should start to see the pattern of how these triads chords lay on the guitars fretboard. Practice these examples in all keys to get the full effect.
Make sure you learn these chord types or you will be lost in the next 2 parts of this lesson. We will look at Triads on the 5,4,3 strings in the next installment.....
Until then practice up on both parts!
Brian Calloway
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