What Are triads ?
Triad chords, as their name implies, are made up of three notes.
They are grouped into 4 categories according to wether they are minor, major, augmented or diminished.
- Minor triads are built with a root (1), a minor third (b3) and a perfect fifth (5).
- Major triads are built with a root (1), a major third (3) and a perfect fifth (5).
- Diminished triads are built with a root (1), a minor third (b3) and a flat fifth (b5).
- Augmented triads are built with a root (1), a major third (3) and an augmented fifth (#5).
What is a Close and Open Position Chord?
A close voiced chord is a chord played with all its tones as close together as they can be.
When the notes are spread out, then it is called «open position chord.»
An open position chord has some «air» between one or more of its tones.
What is an Open Triad?
An open triad is built by moving the second note of a close chord up on octave. Thus giving new voicings.
What is a Root Position Chord?
The notes of a root position chord are in the right order, for example, with a major triad : root - third and fifth.
What are Inverted Chords ?
The tones of inverted chords are in a different order than the root positions.
Inverted chords don't have the root note in the bass, instead they have the third or the fifth as lowest note.
Here is an example with the C major chord built with C-E-G, respectively root (1), major third (3) and fifth (5).
The bass note (the lowest note) is the root. This is the basic position also called "root position".
As shown in the chart and tab below, this chord can be inversed in two different ways.
One with the third in the bass and one with the fifth in the bass. Thus giving two inverted voicings. The principle is the same for all types of triads.
| Root position | C | E | G |
| 1st inversion (third in the bass) | E | G | C |
| 2nd inversion (fifth in the bass) | G | C | E |
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Comments
-
I'm really interested in the information given above, and I would want if possible to have a PDF of this guide
Hello,
Just click on the 126 Triad Chord Shapes PDF, in this page.
Thanks
Stef -
In most of your triad groups (like the root position major triads), you have them listed across the page as [strings 6, 5, 4], [strings 4, 3, 2], [strings 5, 4, 3], [strings 3, 2, 1]. I think they should be listed as [strings 6, 5, 4], [strings 5, 4, 3], [strings 4, 3, 2], [strings 3, 2, 1] instead. It's a more systematic progression.
They are listed this way to better understand and visualize their place on the guitar neck and the relation between each others. -
Thank you
My pleasure
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