Can someone please help me understand triads ? I have looked all over reading and videos but I still dont understand it . Im feel so dumb asking

Here’s my understanding – EXTREMELY SIMPLIFIED; compare this with info from the other sources you’ve studied and if this disagrees with that, disregard this.

Each note in a key has a “number” associated with it. Working with the key of C major:
C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

A triad is the 1, the 3, and the 5 of the key. So, for the key of C major, the triad is C – E – G.

I’m pretty sure this is too basic for what you’re looking for, but maybe it will help. I'll be watching here to see what I can learn, too. Good luck!

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Shirley Has The Blues

Blacktop P Bass
mim Deluxe P Bass Special
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Ibanez BTB405

... to expand on that, it's also where the extended chords come from, i.e. C6 is a standard C (1-3-5) with an added 6th (in this case, an A).

Also, key signature applies to this- so, for example, if you wanted to play a D major you'd have to apply the key signature of D (2 sharps, F & C). So it would be:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
D E F# G A B C#

D, F# & A for a D major. Voila.

Table of sharps:

C - 0
G - 1 (F#)
D - 2 (F#, C#)
A - 3 (F#, C#, G#)
E - 4 (F#, C#, G#, D#)
B - 5 (F#, C#, G#, D#, A#)
F# - 6 (F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#)
C# - 7 (F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#, C#)

Simple way to remember the sharps: Father Christmas Goes Down All Escalators Backwards.

Hope this helps slightly!

_________________
'01 American Deluxe HSS Strat.
'87 Japan HSS Strat.
'11 Custom Shop FMT HSS Strat.

"Without music, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines and dates by which bills must be paid."

I remember it as there B E no sharps. Never heard the father christmas one before

The one I am familiar with is similar to Vlad's.

Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle

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Thanks but I understand it a little but I get lost on the charts you see they have the roman # then under that they have major,minor,minor,major,major,minor,diminished,major then I get lost?

Keeping things simple, triads are going to be the 1,3, and 5 degrees of any given key. To make them minor you lower the 3rd one half step (b3) and keep the 1 and 5 the same.
So,

Major = 1,3,5
Minor = 1,(b3),5
Diminished (mb5) = 1,(b3),(b5)
Augmented = 1,3,(#5)

After you get this down you start building triad chord scales (Diatonic scale progressions) with them. Start in the key of "C Major" to keep it simple at first. But don't worry about this part if it's confusing just learn a bunch of triads in major and minor for now.

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My ability to spell is in direct proportion to the amount of coffee I've had.

That's the chordic 'scale', so to speak.

When you play within a key, also known as diatonically, you have to play the right chords. For example, you can't play C major, D major, E major, F major, G major and A major within one key.

So... you have the chordic scale.

Which goes...

Major = chord 1 (C in this case)
Minor = chord 2 (D minor, because the key of C has no sharps or flats. D major has an F#. Comprendé?)
Minor = chord 3 (E minor, same reasons outlined as above)
Major = chord 4 (F, which is all naturals- F, A and C)
Major = chord 5 (G, which is all naturals - G, B and D)
Minor = chord 6 (A minor, which is also known as the relative minor- any note that's the 6th of a major scale is the relative minor)
Diminished = chord 7 (B diminished, which has to have the fifth flattened to make it fit diatonically- in this case it's B, D and F, as opposed to F#).

Hope this makes a little sense... if you want to make it work in practise, which is always a better solution, try it using the chord shapes in A. So... you'd start at the third fret A-shape C, and work your way up. C > Dm > Em > F > G > Am > Bdim > C.

Job's a good'un!

_________________
'01 American Deluxe HSS Strat.
'87 Japan HSS Strat.
'11 Custom Shop FMT HSS Strat.

"Without music, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines and dates by which bills must be paid."

It's easy to understand triads.

They are a bunch of people from Kowloon who get really intense about you opening up casinos on their turf.


Sorry I couldn't resist.

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No no and no

Groan.

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'01 American Deluxe HSS Strat.
'87 Japan HSS Strat.
'11 Custom Shop FMT HSS Strat.

"Without music, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines and dates by which bills must be paid."

Are you familiar with modes? Modes come from playing the major scale (maintaining the same intervals – half and whole steps), but starting on each of the different notes

1 I C _ D _ E F _ G _ A _ B C whole – whole – half – whole – whole – whole – half
2 ii D _ E F _ G _ A _ B C _ D whole – half – whole – whole – whole – half – whole
3 iii E F _ G _ A _ B C _ D _ E half – whole – whole – whole – half – whole - whole
4 IV F _ G _ A _ B C _ D _ E F whole – whole – whole – half – whole – whole – half
5 V G _ A _ B C _ D _ E F _ G whole – whole – half – whole – whole – half – whole
6 vi A _ B C _ D _ E F _ G _ A whole – half – whole – whole – half – whole - whole
7 vii B C _ D _ E F _ G _ A _ B half – whole – whole – half – whole – whole - whole

As I understand it, a chord is major or minor depending on whether the “3” is “regular” or flat: how far away it is from the 1 – two whole steps (major) or 1 1/2 whole steps (minor). So the I, IV, and V give major triads, while the ii, iii, vi, and vii yield minor triads.

As I said before, I hope this helps, and I’ll be watching for what others share on this topic.

_________________
Shirley Has The Blues

Blacktop P Bass
mim Deluxe P Bass Special
mim P Bass
Ibanez BTB405

No. It's not too basic. While the chord theory mentioned by the others is very interesting and usefull and the OP would do well to study, it does not answer the OP's question which was far simpler than learning all about how to build a chord. The short answer is ... triads are three note chords. Any chord in which you play 4 notes or more is no longer a triad. It doesn't get any simpler than that. It also doesn't really get any more complicated than that. There is an entire universe of chord thoery we can delve into but if we stick to the topic, triads, that's pretty much it in a nutshell. Three note chords. As with all guitar chord shapes, inversions are almost unavoidable. The following is an example of three simple triads all of which are A Major.

---x---x---x
---2---5---10
---2---6---9
---2---7---11
---x---x---x
---x---x---x

The x's are there to show that you play three notes. Not 4, not 5, not 6. The following is not an example of a triad.

0
2
2
2
0
X

There may only be 3 note names in this fingering but you are still playing 5 notes so it is not a triad. Triads are 3 note chords. Three pitches are heard. You will play 3 strings. Triads are very often inversions

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

That's a very useful way to look at it as it opens up quite a few possibilities. Thanks!

_________________
Shirley Has The Blues

Blacktop P Bass
mim Deluxe P Bass Special
mim P Bass
Ibanez BTB405