Home › Forums › Beginner Guitar Discussions › Minor chord triad?
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May 26, 2020 at 8:30 pm #174947
Hello, great topic in EP362, Here is where I am stumped. 1 finding the triad by a root note? I get a Barr chord or a Cowboy chord but what designates an e shape triad, as it would be named?
It must be more than “play an e shape with the first string pined on fret 4” ? Thanks!
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May 26, 2020 at 10:25 pm #174948
Hi Peter,
There are 3 triad shapes for an E major or E minor chord on the highest stringset (strings 1, 2, & 3). They arise from an A CAGED shape, an E CAGED shape and a D CAGED shape. The A shape is the root position, ie. the E note is on the lowest string, the 3rd. The E shape is the 1st inversion, ie the second note of the triad, G (minor) or G# (major) is on the lowest string and the E appears on the first string. The D shape is the second inversion because the third note of the triad, B, appears on the lowest string and the E note is now on the second string.
That’s the long explanation to say each triad shape is still designated by the root note but in each shape the root note appears on a different string. It helps a lot to start learning all the notes on the fret board. Hope I answered your question.
John -
May 27, 2020 at 9:10 am #174962
Thanks Charjo!
I have a lot of blanks to fill in. I see from your comments I need to probably first drill in on the composition of each chord. I know the chords and most of the variants around the neck but not the notes that make them.
I’m fluent with the notes on 1st and 6th string slight delay on the 5th string I can eventually count on my fingers to the other frets and strings.
Any pointers to study/drills that will help me understand the notes in a chord and why?
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May 27, 2020 at 11:47 am #174972
Peter,
There are so many basic music theory videos on YouTube. Find any video that explains “harmonizing the major scale”. It’s pretty simple, actually. Also, any videos that review how the Circle of Fifths works will fill a lot of knowledge gaps.
John
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May 27, 2020 at 8:10 pm #175005
Again huge thanks!
another series of stupid questions! so I want to find the 1-3-and 5 of G. what scale am I looking at? pentatonic position 1? or a-b-c-d-e-f-g ?
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May 28, 2020 at 6:16 am #175019
Peter,
You don’t really need to know a scale to find the 1. 3, and 5 of G. If you look at the Circle of Fifths you can see that a G chord appears in the keys of C, G, D, Am, Em and Bm, ie. it appears in many scales. In any of those keys you would start on the G note, include the note two notes up and then add the note also two notes up. In all the other keys this would result in a different version of a G chord due to the sequence of intervals. When you look at “harmonizing a scale” you will see that the sequence of intervals in a type of scale (major, minor or other) results in a unique series of chords formed from the 1, 3, 5 starting on each note of that scale.(The 1 chord is the 1, 3, 5, the 2 chord is the 2,4,6 etc.)
What you need to understand is how a G major chord constructed. Any major chord is constructed by a major 3rd interval and then a minor third interval. Major third interval would be 4 guitar frets up (not including the root fret) and a minor third interval would be 3 frets up. Once you know the notes of the G chord, the triads give you all the various
root position and inversion shapes of the chord.
Likewise a minor chord is formed by a minor third interval followed by a major chord interval. A diminished chord is a minor third interval followed by a minor third. An augmented chord is a major third followed by a major third.
Hope I’m not confusing you or scaring you off. Start with videos on harmonizing the major scale.
JohnAttachments:
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May 28, 2020 at 9:59 am #175028
Peter,
You don’t really need to know a scale to find the 1. 3, and 5 of G. If you look at the Circle of Fifths you can see that a G chord appears in the keys of C, G, D, Am, Em and Bm, ie. it appears in many scales. In any of those keys you would start on the G note, include the note two notes up and then add the note also two notes up. In all the other keys this would result in a different version of a G chord due to the sequence of intervals. When you look at “harmonizing a scale” you will see that the sequence of intervals in a type of scale (major, minor or other) results in a unique series of chords formed from the 1, 3, 5 starting on each note of that scale.(The 1 chord is the 1, 3, 5, the 2 chord is the 2,4,6 etc.)
What you need to understand is how a G major chord constructed. Any major chord is constructed by a major 3rd interval and then a minor third interval. Major third interval would be 4 guitar frets up (not including the root fret) and a minor third interval would be 3 frets up. Once you know the notes of the G chord, the triads give you all the various
root position and inversion shapes of the chord.
Likewise a minor chord is formed by a minor third interval followed by a major chord interval. A diminished chord is a minor third interval followed by a minor third. An augmented chord is a major third followed by a major third.
Hope I’m not confusing you or scaring you off. Start with videos on harmonizing the major scale.
JohnThere’s a wealth of information in this post. A site member posted a graphic representation of what John is talking about here with triads that was very helpful yo me. It showed how you could change a single note in the triad to change it from major to minor, augmented or diminished. If I can find that post I will link to it.
Another thing John mentioned earlier was the importance of knowing the notes of the fret board. For me it was easiest to learn where all the root notes of a particular key are on the fret board first. Once you learn where one note is anywhere on the fret board it sets up a pattern that makes it easier to all the other notes.
From that, you can start on a root note anywhere on the neck and play a scale forwards and backwards from that point, if you know the intervals of the type of scale you wish to use.
By knowing the root note and intervals you have a built in scale wherever you are playing on the neck. -
May 28, 2020 at 11:33 am #175037
Thanks, Richard. I’ve always thought it was important to see intervals on the fretboard. It makes it much easier to identify or construct chords, diads and triads as well as see scale shapes like you mention.
John
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