Diatonic Dyads For Guitar - Lesson With Shapes - Music Theory

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.

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 the Difference Between a Dyad and a Triad?

A triad is made of three notes, whereas a dyad contains two notes.

Types of Diatonic Intervals

There are many types of music intervals here are the ones we can find in the diatonic major scale :

• Minor second
• Major second
• Minor third
• Major third
• Perfect fourth
• Perfect fifth
• Diminished fifth
• Minor sixth
• Major sixth
• Minor seventh
• Major seventh
• Octave

How to Play Diatonic Dyads on Guitar?

Here are the most important diatonic dyads you should know. Each of the guitar interval shapes below show you how to play third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and octave intervals from the diatonic major scale. The seconds have been intentionally omitted.