Velvet Roger Triads - 3 string chords SI Lesson

Revision as of 20:47, 8 February 2009

Introduction Hey guys, my name is Roger Legtenberg, am 33 years old and living in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. I've been playing the guitar seriously for about 1.5 years now (with also some less serious playing back when I was 16-17). Besides playing the guitar, I have always been involved in playing music (piano, keyboards, drums), which certainly is helpful for rhythmic feeling etc. About 5 months ago I started my own band together with two other persons, which gives a nice boost in my playing abilities as well.

Structure 1. About the lesson 2. Theory background 3. The lesson 4. How to implement the exercises 5. Last words

1. About the lesson This lesson is primarily aimed towards beginners (with some theory knowledge) which would help them gain knowledge on the following aspects:

- Basic triad chords - Fretboard interval knowledge (focussed on chords) - Finding chords on several places on the fretboard - Chord inversions - Arpeggio alternate picking (not main goal of this lesson)

2. Theory background Today we are covering the very basic building blocks of chords: triads. For a more extensive explanation about triads, please see this series made by Andrew.

Basically, a major triad chord is build from the following 3 notes: the root (1), the major third (3) and the perfect fifth (5). If you look at this chord from an interval point of view the interval between the root and the major third contains 4 semitones (and is called a major third interval) and the interval between the major third and the perfect fifth is contains 3 semitones (this is called a minor third interval). So basically the major triad chords is a major third interval + a minor third interval.

A minor triad chord is build from the following 3 notes: the root (1), the minor third (b3) and the perfect fifth (5). If you look at this chord from an interval point of view the interval between the root and the minor third contains 3 semitones (and is called a minor third interval) and the interval between the major third and the perfect fifth is contains 4 semitones (this is called a major third interval). So basically the minor triad chords is a minor third interval + a major third interval.

The exercises in section 3 are based on the C-shape, A-shape and E-shape basic triad chords in the so-called CAGED system. As Andrew made an excellent theory series about the CAGED system I would certainly like to refer to that.

Basically CAGED shapes are referring to 5 standard chord shapes which are very useful for many things (scale knowledge, chord knowledge, fretboard knowledge etc), and we will be using 3 of those 5 standard chord shapes as the basis for our current lesson:

First we have the so-called C-shape. For example, the D major chord in it's C-shape is tabbed out like this:

|---2---| 3rd
|---3---| Root
|---2---| 5th
|---4---| 3rd
|---5---| Root
|-------|

Then we have the so-called A-shape. For example, the D major chord in it's A-shape is tabbed out like this:

|---5---| 5th
|---7---| 3rd
|---7---| Root
|---7---| 5th
|---5---| Root
|-------|