Major triads on the top three strings
C, F and G as three-note chords on the top three strings, each in its three inversions climbing the neck, arpeggiated in triplets and then struck together. Triads are the smallest complete chords: they show where a chord's root, third and fifth sit everywhere on the neck, which is how lead and rhythm parts find chord tones high up, away from the open chords.
Opens in the player looped and counted in, with drums playing along, and speeds up 5 % every 2 loops to 80 bpm. No account or microphone needed.
- Goal tempo
- 80 bpm
- Starts at
- 48 bpm
- Length
- 4 bars, looped
- Tuning
- E standard
- Time
- 4/4
- Level
- Intermediate
- Plays with
- Drums
How to play it
Put each shape's three fingers down together and let the notes ring into each other; find the root in each shape before you play it.
A triad is three notes: the root, the third and the fifth of a chord. On the top three strings each triad has three shapes, the inversions, depending on which note is lowest. For C, with C, E and G: G-C-E at the open strings and 1st fret, C-E-G at the 5th fret, E-G-C around the 8th, and G-C-E again an octave up at the 12th.
Each bar plays one chord's three inversions as triplets, low to high on the three strings, then strikes the next one up together on beat 4. C in bar 1, F in bar 2, G in bar 3, and C again in bar 4 coming back down.
Learn the shapes as chords first, without the rhythm: put each one down, play it, and say which string has the root. Then play the bars in time.
Mistakes to watch for
- Placing the fingers one at a time instead of as a shape.
- Letting the open strings or lower strings ring under the triad; these are three-string chords.
- Not knowing where the root is in each shape, which is what makes them useful.
A speed plan
The player starts at 60 % of the goal and plays each tempo twice before stepping up:
- 48
- 52
- 56
- 60
- 64
- 68
- 72
- 76
- 80
That's 16 loops and about 4 minutes before you're playing at 80 bpm. If it stops being clean on the way, stop the ramp there and loop that tempo until it is. With a microphone or an audio interface you can record while you play instead: Demiurg checks every loop and steps up only after two clean ones in a row, and back down after a poor one.
Questions
How fast should I play Major triads on the top strings?
The goal is 80 bpm in eighth-note triplets, which is 4 notes a second. Start wherever every note is clean: the player begins at 48 bpm. Signed in, you can set a goal of your own, slower or faster, on the Exercises page.
What are triads used for?
Rhythm parts high on the neck, away from the open chords, as in funk, reggae and a second guitar part. And in solos: the triad shapes show where the notes of the chord being played are, which are the strongest notes to land on.
What about minor triads?
Lower the third by a fret in each shape: C-E-G becomes C-E♭-G. The scales page shows the notes of any scale, and the CAGED exercise covers the same idea with full chords.
More fundamentals exercises
All 22 fundamentals exercises · Fretboard notes trainer · Scales on the neck · All 107 exercises