Lesson: Major Triads and Arpeggios on Guitar I

Well, I was looking around the internet for some good tutorials on major triads similar to what I learned from Jeff Ladenheim.  It turns out that there are a TON of ways to teach this and maybe some are easier then others or some work better with certain people.  I think the way he taught it was great and it not only helped me learn a lot more about the theory of music but also helped me learn the triads themselves and gave me a much better command of the neck.  Once you learn these you realize that you don’t have to move much to get to any chord you want and playing chord tones in solos becomes a lot easier!  If you have questions please ask!!First off, you should know that a Major chord has 3 tones in it.  These tones represent the Root,3rd, and 5th notes of a Major scale.  If you can’t play a major scale yet, go practice that first.  The Major scale is the most important thing you can learn and have a solid grasp of.  So again, a Major chord contains the Root, the Third and the Fifth of a major scale.

Let’s first look at this pattern that can be ANYWHERE on the neck….NOTE: the R, 3, and 5 represent a Root, 3rd and 5th and not a tablature fret.

Let’s just call this the 6th String Major Triad Pattern.

 E|xxx|xxx|-5-|---|---|---|---|---|
 B|xxx|xxx|---|---|-3-|---|---|---|
 G|xxx|xxx|---|---|-R-|---|---|---|
 D|xxx|xxx|---|---|-5-|---|---|---|
 A|xxx|xxx|---|---|---|---|-3-|---|
 E|xxx|xxx|---|---|---|---|---|-R-|

Now, if you look, there are 4 chords here. I.e….

Chord One: Notice the chord is Root, 3rd, Fifth, in that order.

 E|xxx|xxx|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 B|xxx|xxx|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 G|xxx|xxx|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 D|xxx|xxx|---|---|-5-|---|---|---|
 A|xxx|xxx|---|---|---|---|-3-|---|
 E|xxx|xxx|---|---|---|---|---|-R-|

Chord Two: The chord is 3rd, 5th, Root.

 E|xxx|xxx|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 B|xxx|xxx|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 G|xxx|xxx|---|---|-R-|---|---|---|
 D|xxx|xxx|---|---|-5-|---|---|---|
 A|xxx|xxx|---|---|---|---|-3-|---|
 E|xxx|xxx|---|---|---|---|---|---|

Chord Three: The chord is 5th, Root, 3rd.

 E|xxx|xxx|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 B|xxx|xxx|---|---|-3-|---|---|---|
 G|xxx|xxx|---|---|-R-|---|---|---|
 D|xxx|xxx|---|---|-5-|---|---|---|
 A|xxx|xxx|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 E|xxx|xxx|---|---|---|---|---|---|

Chord Four: The chord is Root, 3rd, 5th again.

 E|xxx|xxx|-5-|---|---|---|---|---|
 B|xxx|xxx|---|---|-3-|---|---|---|
 G|xxx|xxx|---|---|-R-|---|---|---|
 D|xxx|xxx|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 A|xxx|xxx|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 E|xxx|xxx|---|---|---|---|---|---|

The great thing is that all of these chords represent the same chord! So, if the Root is on the 8th fret or a C then these four chords are all C chords.  Here are some good exercises to practice….these are in tablature.

If you practice this every now and again for a week you will have it down, it is really pretty simple.

Ascending (Say or think if the note you are playing is a Root, Third, or Fifth)

E|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-3-|
B|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-5-|---|-5-|---|
G|---|---|---|---|---|-5-|---|-5-|---|-5-|---|---|
D|---|---|-5-|---|-5-|---|-5-|---|---|---|---|---|
A|---|-7-|---|-7-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
E|-8-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
   ^Chord One  ^Chord Two  ^Chord Three^Chord Four

Descending

E|-3-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
B|---|-5-|---|-5-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G|---|---|-5-|---|-5-|---|-5-|---|---|---|---|---|
D|---|---|---|---|---|-5-|---|-5-|---|-5-|---|---|
A|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-7-|---|-7-|---|
E|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-8-|
   ^Chord Four ^Chord Three^Chord Two  ^Chord One

Chords

E|---|---|---|---|---|---|-3-|-3-|
B|---|---|---|---|-5-|-5-|-5-|-5-|
G|---|---|-5-|-5-|-5-|-5-|-5-|-5-|
D|-5-|-5-|-5-|-5-|-5-|-5-|---|---|
A|-7-|-7-|-7-|-7-|---|---|---|---|
E|-8-|-8-|---|---|---|---|---|---|
   ^C1     ^C2     ^C3     ^C4

And that is it for lesson one….believe it or not you learned what is called an inversion there too….but I will leave that for a little later.