While watching some lessons from Tomo Fujita I have realized that I have never consciously learned triads while I did apply a couple of shapes. It is time to explore more!
So the trias are basiclaly three-notes built in thirds. In case you have not followed any formal musical education this sounds pretty far from practical application. So let’s make it simple and visual. We just need to know that there are major and minor triads and that there are set of shapes which can be used to play triads on the given three adjuscent strings. The only “trick” is that you still have to know the location of notes on the fretboard. But hey, that’s handy anyway :).
So different “shapes” are actually different “inversions” – depending how the triad is built, i.e. whether the root or third or fifth is on top. To find the exact position on the fretboard find the corresponding root note and build the shape from it.
When playing only play the three strings with the notes as indicated, all other strings remain muted.
Top three strings triads
Actually the easiest triad to find on the highest first may be the one with the root on the top e string (technically called “first inversion”) as it may be easiest to find (after all most people start learning notes on the lowest E string, which is the same as the highest e string).
Major
Minor
The minor triads differ only by the 3rd (minor vs major), so if you know your major triads and where the 3rd is it gets pretty trivial :).
Higher mid strings triads
Major
Minor
Lower mid strings triads
Major
Minor
Low three strings triads
Major
Minor
Applicability
There are many application for triads, from blues to country music, they can be applied for building up loop layers, etc. Your fantasy is the limit! One thing to remember – don’t learn all keys at once. Just pick the ones you play most often, make sure you can play them really well without thinking, then expand to other keys. Stat with a simple chord progression, then try others.
Happy playin’!
p.s. As for the chords progression, the one that is referenced in the video of Tomo is:
Bm7 – Em7 – Bm7 – Gmaj7 – F#7
ok, may be not the simplest one, but a beautifully sounding bluesy one…
