Triads Worksheet
Transcript of Triads Worksheet
Triads Worksheet
www.pianogroove.com
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.