Let’s talk about TRIADS and Chord Theory FOR GUITAR.
Because other than for piano, they look quite different on the guitar.
Theoretically the explanation is quite straightforward.
You have a root note, then the third (either major or minor) of that root note stacked on top and the fifth to that same root note.
“AAAH OF COURSE! I fully understand now”…
That’s NOT what you said? Oh… ok.
If you go by the C major scale, the notes in that scale are C, D, E, F, G, A and B and then it starts over again in the next octave.
Now let’s give em numbers.
C = 1, D = 2, E = 3, F = 4, G = 5, A = 6, B = 7.
What I said earlier about the third and the fifth is now plain in sight.
C is the root, E is the THIRD scale degree (major in this case) and G is the fifth scale degree.
The C major chord contains the notes C, E and G.
I mentioned in a previous article that we have half tone steps between E and F, and B and C.
This is universally true. ALWAYS.
That means between C and E are TWO FULL STEPS which makes a MAJOR third of the E in relation to the C.
Full step + Full step = Major third.
The G is always 5 scale steps away from the C.
Let us try another root note.
D.
D is the root, the 3rd scale degree (counting now 1, 2, 3, from the D note) is the F.
The fifth scale degree is the A and it’s 5 scale steps away, as before.
Since we have a full step between D and E and a HALF step between E and F, the interval (tonal distance) between D and F is now a MINOR third.
Full step + Half step = Minor third.
(I KNOW mathematically this doesn’t make sense… 1 + 1 = 3… 1 + 0.5 = 3… so just deal with it)
Let’s look at it on the fretboard:
Can you tell by now which notes belong to the triad starting from E?
I will let you figure this out and put the answer in the comments!
And if you want to become faster with your chord changes: read here
