Why Should I Learn Triads On Guitar?

Why Should I Learn Triads
On Guitar?

Today, we're going to tackle triads, what they are, and why it's super important to learn them as guitar players.

By definition, in music, triads are chords made of 3 tones or 3 unique notes.

Even when you're strumming along your favorite songs, the chords you are playing are triads.

Learning triads on guitar will help you:
- Easily find any chord on the guitar fretboard.
- Build arpeggio shapes all over the guitar neck.
- All of that without having to refer to a chord sheet.
- Make your improvisation sound more professional.
- Allow you to target chord tones (The notes that make up the chord)

More on ''Chord tone soloing'' in this lesson!

Major & Minor Triad Formula

Let's start with the major, we are looking for the A Major triad.

I want you to consider the A major scale, you can use any major scale you want, standard shape, 3 notes per string, it doesn't matter, I'll be playing it on one string.

A Major Scale on the Guitar
In order to form a major triad or a major chord all you need to do is pick the 1st, 3rd, and 5th note of the corresponding major scale: the 1-3-5.
A Major Scale on the Guitar
So in this example, the notes forming the A Major Triad are:
- 1: A
- 3: C#
- 5: E

The 1-3-5 Represent the degrees of the scale.

And now if you analyze the notes of the A Major chord you realize it's made up of those three notes + some duplicates.
A Major Scale on the Guitar

NB: 
Notice how the 1-3-5 aren't in order, this is normal, because of the geometry of the guitar fretboard, this happens with many chord shapes, but as long as these 3 notes are simultaneously played together, its a major triad.

Now what if we want to play a minor triad, let's stick to the key of A.

The minor triad formula is: 1-b3-5

There are 2 ways to go about this you either:
- Play the 1st, 3rd, and 5th note of the MINOR SCALE.
- Start with the MAJOR SCALE, and just flatten the 3rd note.

Check out min @2:39 for a more comprehensive tutorial.

A Major Scale on the Guitar
So in this example, the notes forming the A minor Triad are:
- 1: A
- 3: C
- 5: E

And this is why when you play the A Major chord vs the A minor chord, it's only 1 note difference: C vs C#
A Major Scale on the Guitar

So now every time you want to form a triad you look at the respective major scale of that key, example:
- C major triad -> 1-3-5 of the C Major scale
- C minor triad -> 1-b3-5 of the C Major scale

Finding The Triads Without The Major Scale

In case you forgot your major scale, definitely review it, but here's an easy way to find your triads without referencing any scales.

Steps to follow to easily form MAJOR triads:
- Find your 1, your root note
- Move 4 frets up, to find the 3
- Move 3 frets up, to find the 5
A Major Scale on the Guitar
Steps to follow to easily form MINOR triads:
- Find your 1, your root note
- Move 3 frets up, to find the b3
- Move 4 frets up, to find the 5
A Major Scale on the Guitar
Check out min @4:24 for a demonstration in the key of G.

Triads On 3 Strings

Let's take things up a notch, now that you know what are triads and how you can find them, it's time for us to start using them in our everyday playing.

A useful way to use triads on guitar, is to look for them on 3 strings, this will allow you to find and target those notes on command or even strum any progression you want in different areas of the fretboard.

We're going to start with major triads, all you need to do is:
-Pick the triad you want to play
-Identify it's chord tones (1-3-5)
-Pick one of those chord tones + Find it on the first string (High e string)
-Find the remaining chord tones on the 2nd and 3rd strings (B and G Strings)

Check out min @5:31 for a live demonstration.

Disclaimer: Try finding them yourself before looking at the diagrams below, the whole point of this lesson is to train you never needing to reference diagrams anymore.
A Major Scale on the Guitar
Notice how you get 3 different inversions, that's because triads are made up of 3 notes.

Now for their minor counterparts all you have to do if flatten the 3rd, So Bb instead of B for the G minor triad.
A Major Scale on the Guitar
Check out min @7:36 for the demonstration.
Final Words:
Remember, do the same process yourself, try applying it to other chords, or your favorite chord progressions.

The possibilities are endless, you could also do the same thing on other pairs of strings, I'm sharing with this lesson the triad shapes on the D, G, and B strings you will get new shapes for every other combination of strings.

Want to take your soloing to the next level? Learn to dominate the guitar fretboard, and have more freedom of expression when improvising?

If any of those things are true, then you need to check out our premium guitar training program, "guitar elevation'', it might be just the thing you've been missing!
Author: Jack Haddad
Jack Haddad is an expert Guitar educator and teacher and has been helping guitarists, through his innovative methods, get incredible results on the guitar, whether they want to jam with friends or rock out on the big stage.

You can find out more about Jack Haddad's teaching here: https://www.jhguitarschool.com
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