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  #1  
Old 09-07-2019, 02:18 AM
bhuether bhuether is offline
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Default Triads as launching pad for chord-solo style playing

Edited the title based on a lot of sarcastic comments :-)

Lately I have been thinking about guitar players who effortlessly merge chords and soloing in their guitar playing. Joe Pass was known for this. Sylvain Luc is perhaps today's modern version of Joe Pass, sort of a steroids version! Holdsworth was also masterful at this.

Sometimes I go off into all sorts of 7th chord exercises, etc, but there is so much we can do with triads alone!

So many concepts are built from triads (like 7th chords, extended chords, polychords, etc). So if we can master the use of triad chords and scales then we are already on our way to developing impressive chord-solo ability.

The basic idea is this: Consider the C Major Scale. I won't go into details here but if we form triads from C Major Scale we end up with C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Bdim.

On E G B strings here are all those triads and their inversions (inversion just means a different note moves to become the lowest note.



Notice for each separate chord the notes are the same. So with a C Maj triad, it is always notes C E G, just arranged in certain ways as you make the inversions.

Now how about playing a C Maj triad and inversions up and down the neck and also playing C Major Scale tones in between. Like this



Then we can do likewise for other triads in C Major. Here is a Dm triad played up and down along with C Major Scale notes in between.



We can do this for all the triads in C Major and we can also do this on other strings sets, so doing it on strings B G D, etc. In the end you will be playing triads from key of C all over the neck, along with playing notes of the C Major Scale and you will gradually start merging chords and soloing in your playing. Not a bad thing!

We can also use chord progressions, such as I vi ii V. That could be something like this:



Pretty boring sounding but once you master the simple boring stuff, and expand chord and scale knowledge then you can see how it is not a stretch to go from boring to interesting, adding chromaticism, etc, etc.


Have fun,

Brian

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Last edited by bhuether; 09-08-2019 at 01:48 AM. Reason: original title was generating too much sarcasm
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Old 09-07-2019, 05:44 AM
JonPR JonPR is offline
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Who is this "we"? Count me out.
I.e., that's a clickbait thread title.
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Old 09-07-2019, 06:07 AM
zombywoof zombywoof is offline
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Count me out as well. Then again, not even sure why you would think this. Anyone wh0 has ever played a turn around is often using them. I just do not call them triads - broken chords or comping more likely.
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Old 09-07-2019, 07:25 AM
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They don't. Some are ignorant about them though. Prevailing thought on AGF, in my estimation, is that a chord must be a full six string strumable chord. I call these triads partial chords or work arounds. Maybe I should up grade my vocabulary. Robert Johnson used them as an example.
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Last edited by Mr. Jelly; 09-07-2019 at 02:06 PM.
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Old 09-07-2019, 07:30 AM
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Whew !, I thought we were going to talk about Asian Gangs.
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Old 09-07-2019, 07:38 AM
Kerbie Kerbie is offline
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I'm sure there are some guitarists who overlook or don't understand triads, but I have to agree with those who say that's certainly not true as a rule. You're talking music theory... harmonizing a scale. All great stuff and stuff I use every day.

In addition to triads, I have a lot of fun with double-stops, especially in the blues. Maybe your thread will encourage some to dig deeper into theory.
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Old 09-07-2019, 07:59 AM
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Yeah you lost me at the infomercial webinar link but I do spend 10 mins a day on triad exercises.
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Old 09-07-2019, 08:39 AM
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Thanks for sharing. I know doing all of this took time and effort.

Jazz guitarist Joe Negri has a book ("A Common Sense Approach To Improvisation") built around the topic of triads and the expansion of their use but his focus was on strings two three and four as a little more useful base (in thinking anyway) for the triad core. Thus for example:

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Old 09-07-2019, 09:35 AM
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Change "we" to "so many" & Bob's yer uncle.
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Old 09-07-2019, 10:01 AM
Trevor B. Trevor B. is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by frankmcr View Post
Change "we" to "so many" & Bob's yer uncle.
Agree!!!

That said, the subject of triads and chordal scales in general is extremely important for anyone who plays a polyphonic instrument. Shedding light on triads here on the AGF is a very worthwhile initiative. Thanks to bhuether (Brian) for making the effort.
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Old 09-07-2019, 10:13 AM
JonPR JonPR is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by frankmcr View Post
Change "we" to "so many" & Bob's yer uncle.
Right!

I'd also add: who cares? We don't have to listen to all those boring guitarists who "overlook the power of triads".

Many of them may be quite happy playing as they do - leave them alone! But of course, if some of them think they're missing something and want a lesson, that's different. Any of those reading this?

A better title for the thread might have been "Lesson: unlocking the power of triads", or something similar. Those of us not interested (for whatever reason) could then ignore it rather than coming here and making sarcastic comments.
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Old 09-07-2019, 12:00 PM
dtpolk dtpolk is offline
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Most good players use them a lot. Listen to Tommy Emmanuel. Some might not agree but his stuff is full of triads. They are great for passing note inversions among other uses.
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Old 09-07-2019, 12:32 PM
vindibona1 vindibona1 is offline
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I can't believe some of the snarky comments.

I've been studying bass fairly seriously these last few months in hopes of picking up more work and have come to learn that this stuff is essential, at least on bass, and have come to question why I never explored it in depth on the guitar?
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Old 09-07-2019, 12:51 PM
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Triads are the back bone of chord structure.

There are so many different levels of players and styles of play that many times the nuts and bolts of things get lost in the shuffle.

With some imagination, luck, a good voice and 5 chords many people can do quite well without ever bothering to learn about triads, double stops, arpeggios, etc.

If they are actually guitar players in the real sense of the word is a good subject for another thread,

Thanks for the info, OP.
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Old 09-07-2019, 02:39 PM
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I didn't know we overlooked triads. As a matter of fact, I think the whole of the learning process out of the gate is placing them and fluidly moving between them. If anything, they're the focus rather than in periphery. I think the opposite. I think the beauty of the diad is overlooked.
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