triads

In this short lesson for beginners you will learn how to build basic triad chords on guitar, how to connect, hear and recognize them in an easy way, step by step. Four exercises with tab/standard notation and neck diagrams are proposed here, the aim being to play the six main types of triads on different string sets without displacing the hand.

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This guitar theory lesson covers a very important topic that any musician must know : How To Harmonize The Natural Minor Scale? In other words, you will learn how to build triads and seventh chords starting on each note of the natural minor scale.

Quartal harmony is the way of building chords with intervals of fourths instead of thirds, it's a nice way to modernize and enrich your jazz guitar playing. This post provides an easy exercise for a first approach of quartal playing that is to arpeggiate three-note chords built in fourths, starting on each step of a major scale.

As is the case in many lessons on the website, you'll find a short YouTube video and the link to download the PDF for free, a little further in this article.

You'll find here an infographic related to the lesson about upper structure triads on guitar. 

This guitar lesson discusses a very useful way to come out new colors to your soloing or comping ideas called "Upper-structure Triads. This technique consists of superimposing triads to highlight extended notes of minor, major and dominant chords.

This lesson provides a chord study with tab of the Latin jazz tune Armando's rumba by Chick Corea based on the Latin Real Book version in C minor. Here below you'll find guitar tabs corresponding to the four main parts of the tune (A-B-C-D).

The chords used in this arrangement are mostly seventh chords as min7, maj7, dim7 and dom7 (drop 2, drop 3 and rootless voicings) including basic triads (min, aug) and altered dominant chords (7#9, 7b13).

A new tutorial has been published on Jazz Guitar Licks YouTube channel. It is shows how to play the main triads on guitar using neck diagram shapes. The triad discussed are : minor, major, diminished, augmented and suspended 2 & 4, don't hesitate to like, comment and share this video.

For those who'd like to get the printable PDF version and get more triad voicing shapes (open and close), there is a new method available since a few days, just click on the picture below to get it.

The triad pair system is a technique used by many jazz improviser to build modern improvised lines. It consists of playing two adjacent triads from a scale. The most used are from the major diatonic system, however it is possible to use triad pairs from other scales as melodic minor, harmonic minor and harmonic major. This guitar lesson with tabs, shapes and theory is focused on triad pairs from the major scale only.

What is a Dyad?

A dyad is a two-note chord, a pair of notes played at the same time. These two notes are separated by an interval. Considering there are different types of intervals, there are therefore different types of dyads.

What's an Interval in Music?

An interval is the distance between two notes. It can be melodic or harmonic.

Is a Dyad can be considered a Chord?

A chord must contain, at a minimum, 3 notes. As its name implies a dyad is made of only two pitches. So, a dyad is considered as being an interval, not a chord.

What's a Diatonic Scale?

A diatonic scale is built with half and whole steps. The term diatonic comes from the ancient Greece. In western music a diatonic scale is based on five whole steps and two half-steps that can be ordered in many specific ways. The best known is the diatonic major scale based on the formula W - W - H - W - W - W - H which means Whole-Step | Whole-Step | Half-step |  WholeStep | Whole-Step |  Whole-Step | Half-Step.

What's An Inverted Chord?

An inverted chord is a chord whose notes are stacked in a different order. In other words, the notes of a chord, whether it is a triad (containing just three notes) or a tetrad (built with four notes), can be reshuffled in a different way.

The name of the chord will still remain the same, but the bass will not necessarily the root note. This is the lowest note (the bass note) that determines the name of the inverted chord. So, chord inversion simply refers to which note is in the bass. You will find in this article some example for a better understanding of what are inverted chords.

Triads are one of the first harmonic tools to study. They are very useful for comping and chordal enrichment. Learning close and open triad voicings increase your harmonic knowledge and at the same time help you discover your fretboard.

In this lesson you will see the main triad chord shapes including root positions and inversions. You will also find some ideas on how to use triads over a II V I sequence, in order to create interesting melodic movement in your comping.

Arpeggios are surely the most important devices to master when you want to start improvising. Every jazz players use arpeggios in their improvisations. Great guitarists, all kinds of styles use arpeggios : John Scofield, Kurt Rosewinkel, Birelli Lagrene, Django Reinhardt, and many more.

Arpeggios are played extensively because they use only the notes found in a single chord. Therefore,  they create a more harmonized sound when played with their corresponding chord. Arpeggios are very helpful to easily outline the chord changes.

This guitar lesson is focused on the most basic forms of arpeggios made out of three notes called "triad arpeggios". 

One of the fundamental theoretical elements to understand music is the harmonization of the major scale. Harmonizing scale is building chords with notes. This lesson explains how to create triads and seventh chords from each note of the major scale.

Mastering triads is necessary for any guitarist who wants to expand his fretboard and theory knowledge.

These chords are not really considered as jazz chords because of their basic sound, but they can be efficient tools for comping and chord soloing. Indeed, the strong point of these chords is the simplicity of learning and playing.

You will find in this guitar lesson 84 ways of playing triads (major, minor, diminished and augmented) using root and inverted voicings in close and open positions.