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LESSONS

TriadArchitecture
BYJOHNGOLDSBY
March1,2010
ICALLARCHITECTUREFROZENmusic,saidtheGermanwriterandphilosopherJohannWolfgangvonGoethe.Hewascommentingontherelationshipsofform
andfunctionthatbotharchitectureandmusicshare.
Abeautifulbuildingstandsonlybecauseallofitsstructuralelementsaresilentlyworkingtogether.Musicalsocontainsmanyfundamentalelementsthatunderpinthe
architectureofasong.Withouttheunderlyingstructure,thereisnobeauty,nogroove,nofunk,noblues.InthenextfewWoodsheds,welllookathowtriadsformthe
foundationofbasslinesandmelodies.
Triadsarebuiltwitharoot,3rd,and5th.Aneasywaytobuildatriadistousethe1st,3rd,and5thnotesofascale(Ex.1).Triadscanbeconstructedstartingonanynoteof
thescale,andthesethreenotechordsarealwaysbuiltinintervalsof3rds.
Dependingonthetypeoftriad,therootto3rdcanbeanintervalofamajor3rd(fourhalfstepsindistance),oraminor3rd(threehalfstepsindistance).Themajor3rd
intervalisabbreviatedM3,theminor3rdintervalisabbreviatedm3(Ex.2).Thedistancefromthe3rdtothe5thcanalsobeeitheraM3oram3interval.
Therearefourtypesoftriads:major,minor,augmented,anddiminished(Ex.3).PlaythroughEx.4afewtimestohearthedifferencesinsound.Themostcommontriads
aremajorandminor,butitsimportanttoknowandunderstanddiminishedandaugmentedtriadsaswell.
Playingtriadsshouldbecomeautomaticforyou.Byworkingthroughall12keysusingvarioustriadpatterns,youcansolidifyyourcommandoftriads.Youshouldbeable
toglanceatanychordsymbolandplaytheappropriatetriad.Example5showsatriadexercisethroughthecycleof5ths.ThechordsinEx.6movethrougharandom
progressionoftriadsinall12keys.
Nowthatyouveplayedthroughalloftheexerciseswithmajortriads,gobacktoExamples5and6,playingthemallwithminortriads.SeeEx.7togetstarted.
Ex.1

Ex.2

TriadInversions
Ex.3

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Ex.4

Ex.5

Ex.6

Thetriadsthatyouhaveplayedsofarhavebeeninrootposition.Arootpositiontriadstartsontherootofthechordforexample,therootpositionC
majortriadstartsonthenoteC.Triadscanalsobeinverted:The1stinversionofaCmajortriadstartsonthe3rd(E),andthe2ndinversionstartson
the5th(G).Example8showsthe1stinversionofaCmajortriad.Example9usesthe2ndinversion.
Ex.7

Ex.8

Ex.9
Manybassistsgetstuckonlybeingabletoeffectivelyplaytriadsinrootposition,butyoucanaddcolorandspicetoyourlinesbyusingthetriad
inversionsaswell.ListentoJimmyBlanton,RonCarter,SteveSwallow,andJeffBerlin,andyouwillhearthattheyoftenuseinversionsofchords.By
masteringthesebasicbuildingblocksofmusic,youwillalwaysbeabletodescribetheharmonyofasong.
Ex.10

Ex.11
UsingthechordprogressionsinExamples5and6,playallofthetriadsin1stinversion,startingonthe3rdofeachchord.SeeEx.10togetstarted.
Nowplayallofthetriadsin2ndinversion,startingonthe5thofeachchord.SeeEx.11togetstarted.
Ex.12

Tomakethingsmorepractical,letsplayacoupleofblueschoruses.ThesoloinEx.12isabluesprogressioninC,andtheentiresoloconsistsofnotesfromeachtriad
nothingelse.Inareallifemusicalsituation,wewouldaddsomeextranotesotherchordtones,scaletones,andpassingtonesbutforthisexercise,wellstickexclusively
totriads.ThesimplicityofEx.12showsthepoweroftriads,andwecanclearlyheartheharmonychangingfromchordtochord.
Rememberthatyourmusicalhouseisonlyasstrongasthebuildingblocksthatyouuse.Mastertriadsinallinversions,andyouwillbeonyourwaytoanunshakable
foundationonthebass.

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