Major and Minor Triads
Major and Minor Triads
Major and Minor Triads
Triads
are one of the most fundamental building blocks of Western music. Virtually any piece composed
between 1600 to the present day (excepting 12 tone serial music) will display a strong preponderance and
reliance on triads. Having a solid understanding and fluency of triads is the equivalent of understanding
how grammar and vocabulary function in language. The better your knowledge and fluency, the better you
become at reading, writing, speaking and understanding the language.
Triad = Three
- A triad is simply when three different notes are stacked in thirds:
• C-E-G for example is a C Major triad.
Interval Structure
- The interval structure tells us what kind of triad it is. The only difference between a major and minor triad
is the interval produced from the tonic to the third (i.e. the first two notes of the triad in root position).
• Major third = major triad C-E-G or 1-3-5 (C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C) : think of a major 3rd as 4 frets
• Minor third = minor triad C-Eb-G or 1-b3-5 (C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-B-C) : think of a minor 3rd as 3 frets
The examples below are meant to visually show how triads make up a large proportion of a piece’s fabric.
Triads form the foundations of chords and as Dionisio Aguado said, “guitar music is founded on chords”.
Understand triads and you understand chords. Understand chords and you’re on your way to learning the
foundations of guitar music.
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Prelude BWV 999 - Bach: download
3
Doubling
G Major (1-3-5) G Minor (1-b3-5) G Diminished (1-b3-b5) G Augmented (1-3-#5)
- You can double (or triple, or quadruple, etc.) any of those three notes and that wouldn't change the chord's
&label (C-E-G-C∑is still C Major) ∑ ∑ ∑
Doubling
- YouWhich
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have doubled of those three notes and that wouldn't change the chord's label
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& ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
Subtracting
E Major (1-3-5) E Minor (1-b3-5) E Diminished (1-b3-b5) E Augmented (1-3-#5)
- You can subtract notes from a triad, most commonly the 5th above the bass (‘G’ in a C Triad). While this can
sometimes make identifying a triad quite tricky, the context should give you enough information to know
& ∑ ∑ ∑ 2 what the
∑
triad is.
& w
w w
w w
w
C Major without the 5th (missing G) C Major without the 3rd (missing E) C Major without the root (missing C)
& ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
Inversions and Figured Bass
- By changing the order of those notes, you get inversions of the triad.
Figured bass: numbers that represent the intervals above the bass note.
& ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
a) 5/3 = root position
b) 6/3 (or just ‘6’) = first inversion
c) 6/4 = second inversion
4
Spacing
- Triads can be stacked (i.e. notes can be distributed) in a variety of ways, but two are commonly seen in music:
closed and open. Notice that the notes are ‘out of order’ in open position, however it’s still a C Major triad.
Diminished triad = 1-b3-b5 (C - Eb - Gb): or minor triad with diminished 5th (think of it as the smallest - to
diminish)
Augmented triad = 1-3-#5 (C - E - G#): or major triad with augmented 5th (think of it as the largest - to
augment)
3
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Diminished Triad (minor 3rd + diminished 5th) Augmented Triad (major 3rd + augmented 5th)
& ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
Summary of Triads
Below is a summary of the four triad types in C. Since diminished and augmented triads are relatively rare in
music, you will not practice them on the guitar. But it is useful to understand their structure.
& ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
Fill out the triads in the given keys on the next page.
& ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
& ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
& ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
& ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
& ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
Summary of triads
6
& ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
Practice the moveable major and minor triads below.
Say the chord
C Major (1-3-5) name
C Minor and inversion
(1-b3-5) as you play
C Diminished eachCone.
(1-b3-b5) Augmented (1-3-#5)
4 (Short term - play it now!)
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w
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w
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G Major (1-3-5) G Minor (1-b3-5) G Diminished (1-b3-b5) G Augmented (1-3-#5)
A moveable chord is a chord shape that can be moved up and down the fretboard. Learning
∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
chords this way has several advantages, probably the greatest of which is that you can learn
&
many chords very quickly by just learning one.
D Major (1-3-5) D Minor (1-b3-5)
Keep in mind that when playing a chord in first position, an open string will be present.
D Diminished (1-b3-b5) D Augmented (1-3-#5)
& Once the chord is shifted up, the open string will be substituted with the first finger
∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
(sometimes as a barre).
& ∑ ∑
& ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
7
Moveable triad shapes
There are some fundamental triad shapes that can be moved both horizontally and vertically on the fretboard. This
Moveable Major and Minor Triads
means that you can learn hundreds of triads in a relatively short amount of time.
http://danielnistico.weebly.com/moveable-triad-shapes.html
8
9
6
“Completely pure. Its character is
innocence, simplicity, naïvety and
children's talk.”Practice thePractice
triads and inversions in the following keys.
option #1: Say the name of each note
Practice option #2: Say the name and inversion of each chord
I recommend choosing the same keys that the pieces you’re playing are in
“State of nature, virginal chastity
https://www.danielnistico.net/triads-from-fundamental-harmony.html
and purity, lovely innocence of
youth.”
Roman numerals indicate the fret to barre and small numbers to the right indicate the number of strings to barre. The ‘h’ indicates a hinge bar.
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43
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Idleness - John William Godward
0 1 4 23 A 34 0
(1861-1922)
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A Merry Party - Jan Steen
(1625-1679)
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6 2 6
2 2
II 1 1 II
1
4 4
C# Minor
3
0 3 3 0
0 0
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3
3 1 1 1 1 3
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“Laments or repentance, intimate IX3 IX3
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3
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3
34
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3 3 2
4 1 2 21 4 2 4343C#IX
4 213 20 13 4 0 0
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41Minor
2
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(1606-1669)
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3 the Shoresof32 the Sea - Hans
1
21 Knöchi3
1 3
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(1850-1927)
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2
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6 I 6
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D Minor 3 312
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3
4 3 4
21
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3
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2 34
3
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4 4 0
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31 1 3 1 3 1 4
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4
pensive
44
2
3
“A key full
2 2 of nobility and refined 4 43
1
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1
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4 1 1 0 1
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3 0
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4
4
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4
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6
3 43 34
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23
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0 0
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4 0 1 4
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2
(1850-1927)
3
4
3
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33
1 124 14
1 1
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1
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III III
1
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43
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15
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3 1
Identify the major and minor triads in the following example.
Include details on inversion, spacing, subtraction, doubling, etc.
If you spot three different notes that are close together (say in the same bar), then try to stack
them in thirds to see if they’re part of a triad.
A good method is to start from the bass and see if the notes above stack in thirds. Keep doing
this process for each note above the bass until all notes stack in thirds - if they don’t then it
might not be a triad!
Remember that there might be notes subtracted from chords, but the context should help us
know how to identify those.
16