Triads Worksheet

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Sowhatisatriad?Atriadisa3notechordstackedinthirdintervals.TheintervalofathirdisthebasicbuildingblockforchordsTriadsarethesimplestofallchordsandwillmostlikelybethefirstchordsyouwilllearnonthepiano.Thereoffourdifferenttypesoftriad:

• MajorTriads• MinorTriads• DiminishedTriads&• AugmentedTriads

Nowlet’slookateachtype:MajorTriadsHerearethemajortriadsforC,G&D.

InthefirstbarwehaveaCmajortriad.IfweplaytheCmajorscaleandtakethe1st,3rdand5thnotesofthescaleweareleftwithaCmajortriad.InthesecondbarwehaveaGmajortriad.IfweplaytheGmajorscaleandtakethe1st3rdand5thnotesofthescaleweareleftwithaGmajortriad.InthesecondbarwehaveaDmajortriad.IfweplaytheDmajorscaleandtakethe1st3rdand5thnotesofthescaleweareleftwithaDmajortriad.Theintervalrelationshipofallmajortriadsisroot,major3rdandthenaminor3rd. MinorTriadsHerewehavetheminortriadsforC,GandD:

FirstwehaveaCminortriadwhichisbuiltfromthe1st,3rd&5thnotesoftheCminorscale.NextwehaveaGminortriadwhichisbuiltfromthe1st,3rd&5thnotesoftheGminorscale.

NextwehaveaDminortriadwhichisbuiltfromthe1st,3rd&5thnotesoftheDminorscale.Anotherwayoffindingtheminorscaleistoplaythemajortriadanddropthe3rdbyhalfastep.Theintervalrelationshipofallminortriadsisroot,minor3rdandthenamajor3rd.Notethatthisistheoppositeintervalrelationshipofmajorthirds Hereisanexerciseforlearningthe12major&12minortriads:

StartinthekeyofCandplayaCmajorTriad.Nowdropthe3rddownhalfasteptoplayaCminortriad.NextmovetherootuphalfastepandplayaDbmajortriad.Nowdropthe3rddownhalfasteptoplayaC#minortriad.NextmovetherootofthechordupanotherhalfstepandplayaDmajortriad.Nowdropthe3rddownhalfasteptoplayaDminortriad.I’llnowcontinuethisexerciseupthechromaticscale.Thechromaticscalebythewayisall12notesofthekeyboard.NoticehowIsaidthechordnamealoudeachtimeIchangedchord.Thisisveryimportantasitcreatedanassociationbetweentheshape,lookandfeelofthechordandit’sname.Nowlet’slookattheothertwotypesoftriad:DiminishedTriadsHerearethediminishedtriadsofC,G&D

Diminishedchordsusethecircularsymbolyoucanseenexttothechord.Theyarealsonotatedwiththeabbreviation‘dim’.Thesesymbolsareusedinterchangeably

Diminishedchordsareconstructedbyplayingtheroot,b3rdandb5thofthemajorscale.SoinC,weplaythemajortriadandthenflatthe3rdand7th.

WecandothesameinG,majortriadthenflatthe3rd&7thAnotherwayoflookingatadiminishedtriadisastackofminorthirds.Thisisaveryimportanttriadtolearnasyouwillfindoutwhenyouwatchthelessonsof7thchords.Weusethediminishedtriadtobuild2different7thchordssoit’sgoodtohavetheshapefirmlyunderyourfingers. AugmentedTriadsHerearetheaugmentedtriadsofC,G&D:

Augmentedchordsusethe‘plus’symbolyoucanseenexttothechord.Theyarealsonotatedwiththeabbreviation‘aug’andagainthesesymbolsareusedinterchangeably.Theaugmentedtriadisthesameasamajortriadbutwithasharp5th.Sharpfifthsimplymeansthatthefifthnotehasbeenraisedbyhalfastep.Augmentedtriadsaretheleastcommonofthefourtypesoftriadsbutyoudostillneedtounderstandhowthischordisbuilt.Whenreadingleadsheets,youmaycomeacross#5chordswhichwouldlooklikethis:Theseareaugmentedchordssojustrememberthattheyarebuiltfromamajortriadwithasharpened5th

InvertingTriadsNextlet’slookatchangingtheorderofthenotesofthetriads–thesearecalledinversions.3notechordscanbeinvertedtwice–herearetheinversionsinthekeyofCmajor.Whentherootisonthebottom,wecallthisrootposition.

Nextwehavethe1stinversion.Togetfromrootpositionto1stinversion,wetakethebottomnoteofthechordandmoveittothetop.Noticethatthischordsoundsdifferenteventhoughweareplayingthesamenotes.

Nextwehavethesecondinversion.Togetfromthe1sttothe2ndinversion,againwetakethebottomnoteandmoveittothetop–againnoticehowthissounddifferent.Wecouldalsofindthe2ndinversionfromrootpositionbytakingthetopnoteandputtingitonthebottom.Nowlet’sdothesameforCminor.

Youneedtolearntoplaytheinversionsoftriadsinall12majorandminorkeys.ArpeggiatingTriadsOnceyouarecomfortablewiththeinversionsit’stimetostartarpeggiatingthetriadshapesupanddownthekeyboard.Masteringthisexercisewillhelpyouwhenyoucometoimprovise.Let’sstartinCmajorandarpeggiatethetriadsthroughthedifferentinversions

Nowlet’sswitchtoCminorandrepeattheexercise.

WecandothesamethinginD,thenGandsoon…Youwillwanttodothisinallkeysaroundthecircleoffifths.SohowtopracticetheseexercisesMasteringtheseexercisesisagradualprocess–don’ttrytogothroughall12keysin1practicesessionifyouarejuststartingout.Thetrickistostartyourpracticewith2or3keysandthennexttimepick3differentkeysandkeepgoinguntilyou’vemasteredallofthem.Alsomakesureyoupicktherighttempotodotheseexercises–ifyouplaytoofastyouwillloseaccuracyanditbecomesapointlessexercise.Remembertostartslowandgraduallybuildupthespeed.