The Magic Of Guitar Triads For Fretboard Mastery

Years ago, I was at a gig in a club in Los Angeles listening to my old mentor play Ron Anthony – guitarist for Frank Sinatra.

There were a bunch of other great guitar players there too in the audience. They all would come out to hear Ron play because he was so good. At this time, I had just gotten my driver’s license and was definitely the youngest one hanging around in the club. But these older musicians would all hang out, and share stories, and tips about guitar.

After the gig, we were chilling out backstage and into the alley behind the club. I got to talking with this one guitarist and they said, “Have you started learning your triads on guitar yet?”

I said, “No, what do you mean?"

They pulled out a nylon string guitar from the back of their trunk and started showing me these chord shapes moving up and down the neck.

I was blown away and tried to soak up everything they were sharing. When I got home, I went to work practicing these guitar triads.

Below I want to share with you a few quick tips on how guitar triads work, and how you can use them on your journey to fretboard mastery for lead and rhythm guitar.

So let’s dive in beginning with answering the question…

What are triads?

A triad is a 3-note chord. The root of the word is "tri-" which refers to the number 3, and "-ad" is a suffix used in musical terminology to denote a group or set of something. In the case of a triad, it refers to a set of 3 notes that form a chord.

Triads can be played on any instrument. Anytime you see a plain and simple chord like C, D, F, or G, etc. These are all triads.

There are two main ways I think of triads. For example, the first way is you can play a G chord using all 6 strings like this:

But this still can be considered a triad.

Once you start extending the basic chord by adding other notes like G7, F11, or Eb13. These are no longer considered simple triads. Because they involve more notes than the basic 3-note structure (often the root, 3rd, and 5th of the scale.) However, they do often still contain the basic triad structure underneath they just have more notes thrown in which creates more sophisticated harmony.

The second way is to think of triads as just using 3 notes on a guitar played on 3 strings. This is a great way to examine the fretboard and get new ideas.

For example, one of my favorite C chords is this one:

This takes the notes G, E, and C, and spreads them across various strings for a strong and full sound. This triad to me almost sounds bigger (and stronger) than a typical open position C chord which uses 5 strings instead of 3:

My theory is 2 fold here, in that 1) even though the 3-string C chord has fewer strings, naturally I think our ears fill in the space in between. This is why it sounds so full. Plus, it is also in 2nd inversion. Which brings us to another interesting note about guitar triads. But before we jump into that, grab my FREE fretboard guide PDF for LEAD and RHYTHM guitar right here:

You see, because there are 3 notes. There are three different possibilities for the lowest note. This then gets into what are called triad inversions.

Triad inversions are different ways of arranging the notes of a triad. In a triad, you have three notes: the root, the 3rd, and the 5th. Depending upon what note is played as the lowest note (bass note), this gives each inversion of the same triad a different sound.

There are 3 main triad inversions:

1. Root Position Guitar Triads

In root position, the root of the chord is the lowest note. This is the standard way of playing a triad, and it’s the most basic form of the chord.

Example (C major triad): C (root), E (major third), G (fifth).

The C note is the lowest, followed by E and G. But they can be in any order after the root note. Then we have..

2. First Inversion Guitar Triads

In first inversion, the 3rd of the triad is played as the lowest note. Again, they can be in any order after the lowest note. But the lowest note determines the inversion.

Example (C major triad in first inversion): E (third), G (fifth), C (root).

Now, E is the lowest note, and the chord will sound a little different because the bass note has shifted. To me, first inversion triads sound slightly less stable than root position triads. Then we have…

3. Second Inversion Guitar Triads

In second inversion, the fifth of the triad becomes the lowest note. This inversion sounds the strongest to me. 

Example (C major triad in second inversion): G (fifth), C (root), E (third).

So depending upon how the same 3 notes are stacked up each one sounds a little different. Also, note how these were all within the standard open position C major chord.

Let’s next talk about…

How to Play Some Triads on Guitar

One of the best ways to learn triads on guitar is to learn what I call chord scales. A chord scale combines chords and scales and shows the relationship between them. It’s essentially a collection of chords that are built from the notes of a specific scale. 

Let’s look at 7 triads in the key of C major. These chords are going to come from the C major scale which uses all the natural notes: C, D, E, F, G, A, and B.

G → F → E → C → B → A → F → E

E → D → B → A → G → E → D → C

C → A → G → F → D → C → B → G

This can be played in many ways but here is one way starting in the 8th position like this:

Before we wrap this up, let’s look at a few ways for…

How Guitar Triads Are Used In Music

Triads are awesome to use when you are playing rhythm guitar in a band. A great example of how this is done is to check out the guitar part in Play That Funky Music White Boy – Wild Cherry.

They can also be played as arpeggiated guitar parts like in “Sweet Home Alabama”:

Guitar triads can also be used for lead guitar as well, by breaking them up and turning them into licks. (See video demonstration at the top of the page). 

Conclusion

That’s a quick look at how guitar triads work, and how you can use them on your journey to fretboard mastery for lead and rhythm guitar. 

Keep practicing, and if you want to continue this lesson and go deeper with my methods… then grab my free fretboard guide PDF right here now:   

Jon MacLennan