Only 7 triads.

by Laurence Mollerup There are only Seven triads in all of music. If you can memorize them, you will never have to wonder what the notes are in a chord you are playing, you will be able to create better basslines and solos, and lastly, triad knowledge makes sight-reading much easier. Are you ready? Here they are: CEG, DFA, EGB, FAC,GBD, ACE, and BDF. That's it!

Do you have them memorized yet? Try going over them a few times in your head. CEG, DFA, EGB, FAC,GBD, ACE, and BDF.

Now to expand on this idea a bit -When the quality of the triad is different, we have to add flats and sharps to spell the triad correctly. Here's an example: C Major is spelled "C E G" . C minor, however, is "C Eb G". We've made the "E" into "Eb" to make it a minor third. We also add flats and sharps when we are in another key, like C# minor, for example (that would be C# E G#) Both examples are still C E G triads! So if you can get the seven triads down, you won't have to guess if a chord is spelled "C# E G#" or "Db E G#" because DEG isn't one of the seven triads. Have fun with the triads by organizing them in different orders, and by starting at the last triad and working backwards to the first. Don't forget to play these on your bass too!

seq|3_3|2_2|2_5|2_0|2_3|1_2|2_2|1_0|1_4|2_3|1_2|1_5|1_0|1_4|1_7|1_2|1_5|1_9|1_4|1_7|1_10|1_5|1_9|1_12|C Major triads|seq