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Soloing With Triads 2: Maj II-V-Is

by Kerry Galloway

Triads are such a strong and coherent sound that they make a great way of organizing your solos.

Try this exercise. We aren't using the triads of the chords themselves, but triads that sketch out the "extensions" of the chord. They are in effect catching some of the "pretty" notes of the chord, and moving in very small intervals like seconds to give a feeling of "flow".

For example, the first triad is an F major. This, over a Dm7 chord, sketches out the b7, b3 and 5 of the Dm7 chord.

In the next bar, we move to...an E major triad! Hold on, you say...over a G7? Well, the chord implied is a G13 with a b9. Check it out- the E major triad sketches out the 3rd, 13th and b9 of the chord. Listen again to the example.

We then move to an E minor triad, which catches the Maj7, 3rd and 5th of the C maj7 chord. But we go one step further in the fourth bar and change to an Amin triad over the same C maj sound, which gives us the 6th, root and 3rd of the C chord. Have a listen to the modulation...can you see the same progression modulating up a semitone? Watch for the "twist" in bars 7 & 8 and figure out where they go...