Major and minor chords arent just triads, theyre some of the building blocks of harmony! As we can tell from the name, triads are three note chords. Building the chord straight from bottom to top gives a chord in root position, because the root is in the bass. Same notes but with the 3rd in the base give a chord in first inversion. Put the 5th in the bass and youve got a chord in 2nd inversion.

If each of the notes in the triad is followed by the next immediate note (Root to 3rd, or 3rd to 5th), rather than skipping notes (root to 5th, or 5th to 3rd) then you have a closed voice triad, as opposed to an open voice triad, which does leap between notes. The root note is highlighted in red.

Closed Voice Triads

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Pattern 1

3rd 5th R

Pattern 2

begins in root position

R 3rd 5th

begins in 1st inversion

5th R 3rd

Pattern 3

begins in 2nd inversion

As you work your way through this challenge youll find the entire fretboard opening up to you!

Closed Voice Triads - Challenge One!

Challenge One!

A C B E D A B G C G D F

G B b C D E B G F D F G B

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Challege One Example

Play through the following sets of chords using a single pattern (1, 2, or 3) for each run through. Thats right, play through each of the 4 keys in all of the squares below using only one pattern. When youre ready for a bit of variety go ahead to the next page for some picking patterns you can use to add some challenge to the right hand. Our goal is to completely internalize the three closed voice triad patterns.

A (pattern 1) C (pattern 1)

B (pattern 1) E (pattern 1)

*See example one below.

Closed Voice Triads - Picking Patterns

Picking pattern 1

Picking pattern 4

Lets mix up Challenge One by varying our right hand. Youve already worked on playing the chord shape with a pick, as well as pick and fingers (use your pick for the low note and let your right hands middle and ring finger tackle the remaining two notes). The following examples will give your right hand a run for its money. String skipping can be a challenge and requires some special attention, and nows a good time for some. Be sure to use strict aleternate picking in the following examples. Although they are all written using the root position pattern for A be sure to run these picking patterns through the 1st and 2nd inversion patterns in many keys, like Challenge Ones key changes...

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Picking pattern 3

Picking pattern 2

Closed Voice Triads - Challenge Two!

Shifting your way through patterns and positions along the neck is the key to being able to span the fretboard. In this challenge well connect all three patterns (pattens 1, 2, and 3).

For the example below, D major, we start by ascending through patter 3, then move up the neck and descend through pattern 1; and finish it up by continuing up the neck and ascending through pattern 2. Go ahead and continue ascending if your instrument allows.

Challenge Two

F A B b C G D C A A F # D E

B b A G F E B G F C D G E b

Challenge Two example

D

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Closed Voice Triads - Along the Neck

Position shift example 1

Position shift example 2

Position shift example 3

Closed Voice Triads - Position Shifting

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Closed Voice Triads - Challenge Three!

Shangri La! Nirvana! The Be All - End All! Switching positions on the neck because you want to, by choice, rather than being forced to because of fretboard knowledge is a great place to be in. Working on this exercise will give you the ability to play any closed voice triad on any string, in any position! Hallelujah!

Start by choosing a position on the neck. Then play through the keys in the squares beneath. Well be playing the chords C, G, D, and A in 5th position for our example.

Challenge Three example

C G D A E B F #

C# G# D# A# F

C F B b E b A b D d

G b B E A D G

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C (pattern 1) G (pattern 2)

D (pattern 1) A (pattern 2)

Closed Voice Triads

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Minor chords - Wow, talk about putting your time in! By this point weve completely memorized our closed voicings for major chords. You can easily convert your major voicings to minor by lowering the third of the chord, from a Major 3rd to a minor 3rd (see Patterns 1- 3 below). Be sure to revisit the previous Challenges using minor chords to really accelerate your progress!

Pattern 1

3rd 5th R

Pattern 2

begins in root position

R 3rd 5th

begins in 1st inversion

5th R 3rd

Pattern 3

begins in 2nd inversion