Triads — stacking thirds
Major, minor, diminished and augmented, built the same way every time.
Building chords · 9 min read
A triad is three notes stacked in thirds: a root, a third above it, and a fifth above the root. C–E–G is C major. Lower the middle note by a semitone to Eb and you have C minor. That single semitone is the whole difference between the two most common chords in music.
Two rarer triads finish the set. Lower the fifth as well and you get diminished (C–Eb–Gb), which sounds unstable and wants to move immediately. Raise the fifth from a major triad and you get augmented (C–E–G#), which sounds suspended in mid-air and is a superb way to lead into a chorus.
Get comfortable naming chords by formula rather than by memorising shapes. Major is 1–3–5, minor is 1–b3–5, diminished is 1–b3–b5, augmented is 1–3–#5. Learn four formulas and you can build them from all twelve roots, which is 48 chords for the price of four facts.
- —Triad = root, third, fifth.
- —Major 1-3-5, minor 1-b3-5, diminished 1-b3-b5, augmented 1-3-#5.
- —Learn formulas, not shapes — they transpose for free.
Build all four triad types from F, then from A. Play each one twice and listen for the character before you move on.
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