Triads are the most common chord in Western music and a fancy word to define a chord with 3 notes. Now we know the intervals we can define them more precisely:
What is a Triad?
- Triads are a combination of those three notes: the root, the third, and the fifth
- Those are 3 thirds stacked: the third of the root, and the fifth is the third of the third (but the fifth of the root)
I lost some people here. That’s normal, it’s a “the cousin’s uncle of my dad’s brother” situation…
Remember, intervals are just distances between notes – a major third is 2 tones (4 frets) further, the perfect fifth will be 2 more tones further. In a major triad, the perfect 5th is the major 3rd of the major 3rd of of the root.
Triads Qualities
Depending on the quality of the intervals, the triad is called major, minor, diminished, or augmented. They’re still stacked thirds, and the quality of the triads depends on the quality of the thirds.
so, as you know from the “intervals lesson” there are 2 possible types of thirds:
- major third (= 4 semitones)
- minor third (= 3 semitones)
some easy math now: 2 types of thirds means 2^2 = 4 possible combinations to stack them – those are the four qualities:
- Major triad: major third + minor third
- Minor triad: minor third + major third
- Augmented triad: major third + major third
- Diminished triad: minor third + minor third
Major triad
- R, M3, P5
Minor triad
- R, m3, P5
Augmented triad
- R, M3, A5
Diminished triad
- R, m3, D5
Exercise
Let’s find all the triads for A:
- Major -> R, M3, P5 -> A, C#, E
- Minor -> R, m3, P5 -> A, C, E
- Augmented -> R, M3, A5 -> A, C#, E# (we can’t call it F because the 5th of A is always E)
- Diminished -> R, m3, D5 -> A, C, Eb
Triads for B:
- Major -> R, M3, P5 -> B, D#, F#
- Minor -> R, m3, P5 -> B, D, F#
- Augmented -> R, M3, A5 -> B, D#, F## (yeah I know… why not G? ironically, that’d be more confusing – the 5th of B has to be an F)
- Diminished -> R, m3, D5 -> B, D, F
Keep going!
What did you learn?
You learned how to build a chord, and what are the different components of it.
Why is it important?
You never have to learn a chord again; you can always build it yourself by associating a root, a third, and a fifth anywhere on the fretboard. Do they have to be played in that order? it’s up to you, and we’ll dive into this in the triads LVL2 lesson