Sridhar Seetharaman's

 

Chord Tutorial

 

Lesson 5: G Major Triads

 

Here comes the next lesson. We did start off with understanding the fundamental chord called the triad. Let us the review the example we did.

Now that we know how to form a triad, we could do this with all the notes in a given scale. Let us take G major scale. We take each note as a root and pick up the 3rd and 5th note from the root in the given scale.

G_triads.mid

Let us take one triad at a time and understand the quality.

G B D First Triad

A C E Second Triad

B D F# Third Triad

C E G Fourth Triad

D F# A Fifth Triad

E G B Sixth Triad

F# A C Seventh Triad

The first two notes are 2 steps apart and second two notes are 1 1/2 notes apart. This kind of triad is known as Major triad. In other words, these chords are known as Major chords. We have three major chords for a given major scale. In this case, G major, C major and D major are the chords. The major chords are denoted by the big roman numeral i.e, I, IV, V etc. There is an interesting relationship between First (I), Fourth (IV) and Fifth (V). Most of the popular songs could be played with just these three chords for a given major scale. Here is the start of the prelude from "Dil Tadap" from the hindhi film Madhumathi, G_145.mid. This music goes from G major to C major to D major to G major. In the tonal music built on diatonic scale, the phrase invariably ends with the Tonic (First) triad. In the above example, after this prelude, the songs starts again on G major, goes to C major , goes to D major and back to G major, G_145a.mid

The first two notes are 1 1/2 steps apart and second two notes are 2 notes apart. This kind of triad is known as Minor triad. In other words, these chords are known as Minor chords. We have three minor chords for a given major scale. In this case, A minor, B minor and E minor are the chords. The minor chords are denoted by the small roman numeral i.e, ii, iii, vi, etc. As we have learnt before, the scale formed from E would be E minor scale. E minor scale is a relative minor of G major scale.

The first two notes are 1 1/2 steps apart and second two notes are 1 1/2 notes apart. This kind of triad is known as Diminished triad. In other words, these chords are known as Diminished chords. We have one diminished chords for a given major scale. In this case, F# dim is the chords. The diminished chords are denoted by the small roman numeral i.e, viio etc. The diminished chords are often used in situations like terror, chasing, etc.G_7.mid

Every major key produces the same pattern of triads; that is, the quality of each triad remains constant no matter what the key. The information given in the following chart will prove extremely useful in writing triads. Study it carefully before completing the exercises.

Major Keys

Quality of Triads

I IV V

Major

ii , iii, vi

Minor

viio

Diminished

None

Augmented

 

Exercise:

  1. What are the I, IV, V triads in the major scales of F# , F, Eb, C, D ?
  2. What are the ii,vi triads in the major scales of E, A, B, Ab, C# ?
  3. What is the viio triad in the major scales of A, C, D, Db, Cb ?

Next lesson, let us jump into the triads of relative minor scales. I would like you think about the triads of relative minor scales. By now, you should know the pattern of triads for the minor scale. If not, it is alright. We will understand together.

 

Sridhar.