Understanding Major Triads on Guitar

Major triads are the building blocks of all major chords and learning them is one of the best ways to unlock the guitar fretboard. By practicing triads you’ll not only improve your chord knowledge but also add brighter tones and richer voicings to your playing.

A major triad is made up of three notes from the major scale:

• Root (1st) – the note that names the chord
• Major 3rd (3rd degree) – gives the chord its happy, bright sound
• Perfect 5th (5th degree) – adds stability and fullness

On guitar, triads can be played using string groupings. There are four main sets of three strings that you can use and each set contains three different major triad shapes. These shapes repeat all over the fretboard which means you can play the same chord in many positions.

For example here are the shapes for a G major triad. The same patterns can be applied to any other major triad across the guitar neck.