Triads Worksheet

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Sowhatisatriad?

Atriadisa3notechordstackedinthirdintervals.Theintervalofathirdisthebasicbuilding

blockforchordsTriadsarethesimplestofallchordsandwillmostlikelybethefirstchords

youwilllearnonthepiano.

Thereoffourdifferenttypesoftriad:

• MajorTriads

• MinorTriads

• DiminishedTriads&

• AugmentedTriads

Nowlet’slookateachtype:

MajorTriads

HerearethemajortriadsforC,G&D.

InthefirstbarwehaveaCmajortriad.IfweplaytheCmajorscaleandtakethe1st,3

rdand5

thnotes

ofthescaleweareleftwithaCmajortriad.

InthesecondbarwehaveaGmajortriad.IfweplaytheGmajorscaleandtakethe1st3

rdand5

th

notesofthescaleweareleftwithaGmajortriad.

InthesecondbarwehaveaDmajortriad.IfweplaytheDmajorscaleandtakethe1st3

rdand5

th

notesofthescaleweareleftwithaDmajortriad.

Theintervalrelationshipofallmajortriadsisroot,major3rdandthenaminor3

rd.

MinorTriads

HerewehavetheminortriadsforC,GandD:

FirstwehaveaCminortriadwhichisbuiltfromthe1st,3

rd&5

thnotesoftheCminorscale.

NextwehaveaGminortriadwhichisbuiltfromthe1st,3

rd&5

thnotesoftheGminorscale.

NextwehaveaDminortriadwhichisbuiltfromthe1st,3

rd&5

thnotesoftheDminorscale.

Anotherwayoffindingtheminorscaleistoplaythemajortriadanddropthe3rdbyhalfastep.

Theintervalrelationshipofallminortriadsisroot,minor3rdandthenamajor3

rd.Notethatthisisthe

oppositeintervalrelationshipofmajorthirds

Hereisanexerciseforlearningthe12major&12minortriads:

StartinthekeyofCandplayaCmajorTriad.Nowdropthe3rddownhalfasteptoplayaCminor

triad.

NextmovetherootuphalfastepandplayaDbmajortriad.Nowdropthe3rddownhalfastepto

playaC#minortriad.

NextmovetherootofthechordupanotherhalfstepandplayaDmajortriad.Nowdropthe3rd

downhalfasteptoplayaDminortriad.

I’llnowcontinuethisexerciseupthechromaticscale.Thechromaticscalebythewayisall12notesof

thekeyboard.

NoticehowIsaidthechordnamealoudeachtimeIchangedchord.Thisisveryimportantasit

createdanassociationbetweentheshape,lookandfeelofthechordandit’sname.

Nowlet’slookattheothertwotypesoftriad:

DiminishedTriadsHerearethediminishedtriadsofC,G&D

Diminishedchordsusethecircularsymbolyoucanseenexttothechord.Theyarealsonotatedwith

theabbreviation‘dim’.Thesesymbolsareusedinterchangeably

Diminishedchordsareconstructedbyplayingtheroot,b3rdandb5

thofthemajorscale.

SoinC,weplaythemajortriadandthenflatthe3rdand7

th.

WecandothesameinG,majortriadthenflatthe3rd&7

th

Anotherwayoflookingatadiminishedtriadisastackofminorthirds.

Thisisaveryimportanttriadtolearnasyouwillfindoutwhenyouwatchthelessonsof7thchords.

Weusethediminishedtriadtobuild2different7thchordssoit’sgoodtohavetheshapefirmlyunder

yourfingers.

AugmentedTriadsHerearetheaugmentedtriadsofC,G&D:

Augmentedchordsusethe‘plus’symbolyoucanseenexttothechord.Theyarealsonotatedwith

theabbreviation‘aug’andagainthesesymbolsareusedinterchangeably.

Theaugmentedtriadisthesameasamajortriadbutwithasharp5th.Sharpfifthsimplymeansthat

thefifthnotehasbeenraisedbyhalfastep.

Augmentedtriadsaretheleastcommonofthefourtypesoftriadsbutyoudostillneedto

understandhowthischordisbuilt.

Whenreadingleadsheets,youmaycomeacross#5chordswhichwouldlooklikethis:

Theseareaugmentedchordssojustrememberthattheyarebuiltfromamajortriadwitha

sharpened5th

InvertingTriads

Nextlet’slookatchangingtheorderofthenotesofthetriads–thesearecalledinversions.

3notechordscanbeinvertedtwice–herearetheinversionsinthekeyofCmajor.Whentherootisonthe

bottom,wecallthisrootposition.

Nextwehavethe1stinversion.Togetfromrootpositionto1stinversion,wetakethebottomnoteofthechord

andmoveittothetop.Noticethatthischordsoundsdifferenteventhoughweareplayingthesamenotes.

Nextwehavethesecondinversion.Togetfromthe1sttothe2

ndinversion,againwetakethebottomnoteand

moveittothetop–againnoticehowthissounddifferent.Wecouldalsofindthe2ndinversionfromrootposition

bytakingthetopnoteandputtingitonthebottom.

Nowlet’sdothesameforCminor.

Youneedtolearntoplaytheinversionsoftriadsinall12majorandminorkeys.

ArpeggiatingTriads

Onceyouarecomfortablewiththeinversionsit’stimetostartarpeggiatingthetriadshapesupand

downthekeyboard.Masteringthisexercisewillhelpyouwhenyoucometoimprovise.

Let’sstartinCmajorandarpeggiatethetriadsthroughthedifferentinversions

Nowlet’sswitchtoCminorandrepeattheexercise.

WecandothesamethinginD,thenGandsoon…Youwillwanttodothisinallkeysaroundthe

circleoffifths.

Sohowtopracticetheseexercises

Masteringtheseexercisesisagradualprocess–don’ttrytogothroughall12keysin1

practicesessionifyouarejuststartingout.

Thetrickistostartyourpracticewith2or3keysandthennexttimepick3differentkeys

andkeepgoinguntilyou’vemasteredallofthem.

Alsomakesureyoupicktherighttempotodotheseexercises–ifyouplaytoofastyouwill

loseaccuracyanditbecomesapointlessexercise.

Remembertostartslowandgraduallybuildupthespeed.