Quadrium - Triads SI Lesson

Revision as of 16:14, 28 March 2011

Introduction

Hello All. My name is Dogukan Ozturk. Welcome to the another SI Lesson by me. In this lesson I am gonna explain the triad chords, and how to construct them. Let's begin.

Triads

Chords can be naturally divided into families of related chords based on a particular triad.

A triad is a three-note chord that provides a foundation of harmony. Other notes can be added to a triad to form other chords.
Many triads are common chords in their own right, while others tend to appear more often as the basis for other chords. The triad is made up of the root, which is the lowest note in the chord, together with the 3rd and 5th above it. If the root is one of the degrees of a major or minor scale then the triads are given Roman numerals or names identifying that degree, in the following way:

-I (tonic triad)
-II (supertonic triad)
-III (mediant triad)
-IV (subdominant triad)
-V (dominant triad)
-VI (submediant triad)
-VII (leading note triad)

The tonic (I), subdominant (IV) and dominant (V) triads are called primary, the remainder (except that on VII) are called secondary. In addition, the triads are classified according to the quality of the 3rd or 5th; i.e. whether diminished (for 3rd or 5th), major (for 3rd), minor (for 3rd) or augmented (for 3rd or 5th).

Let's see how can we construct the basic triad shapes:

-A Major Triad consists of root note+major 3rd+perfect 5th of a given scale. -A Minor Triad consists of root note+minor 3rd+perfect 5th of a given scale. -An Augmented Triad consists of root note+major 3rd+augmented 5th of a given scale. -A Diminished Triad consists of root note+minor 3rd+diminished 5th of a given scale.