Let's dive deeper into the relationship between chords and scales and understand what chords in keys are!
View the full lesson at Chords In A Key (Diatonic Triads) | JustinGuitar
Doing more examples like recommended definitely helped solidify the concept. This stuff is starting to really come together into something useful now 
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OMG!!! It is like everything, all of a sudden, makes sense. I could never work it out, but now I understand…
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Good Afternoon. I follow this and see the connection between major scales and chord progressions. However, I tried to do this with the F# and other # scales and got stuck. On my Major scales chart, there isn’t a scale for D#, E#, G#, A#. As an example, when I tried to find the Major scale for G#, B, D# I couldn’t find G# which is needed to assess the triad. Please advise.
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You’re Major scale chart has the flat equivalent scales.
D# look for Eb, E# is F, G# look for Ab, A# look fo Bb
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Most charts will omit those keys because they contain one or more double sharps.
As an example, these are the notes in the D# major key:
D♯, E♯, F𝄪, G♯, A♯, B♯, C𝄪 (read: F double sharp and C double sharp).
If we look at it’s enharmonic equivalent, the key of Eb major, we don’t have any double flats. Although the notes are played identically, it’s much easier to read a piece of music in Eb than it is in D#.
Eb F G Ab Bb C D
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At 1.55 corrective text pops up to say Justin meant triad, not scale. Triad is misspelled as traid.
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I find the direction we are receiving in the lessons to be very clear and concise, even though it sometimes requires that I slow down to make sure I really get the concepts before I move on. That said, I haven’t developed a good rule of thumb yet to know when I should be memorizing the fundamentals for future use as opposed to referring back to written “cheat sheets” that I am developing as I go. I guess that will be up to me over time and how proficient I really want to become!
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Hi, I think im missing something really simple but important here. when I try to work out the triads in a different key such as G or D there are problems with the results.
Do I use the actual triads for the chord in question or do I use the Maj min min major sequence and adjust the triad accordingly to make it man or minor? Right up till this point I have been fine but Im guessing it’s my very slow brain sorry.
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I think the simplest way is to think about only using the notes that are available from whatever scale you are using. So for G you would build up chords only using G A B C D E F# . That will then automatically give you the maj min min maj… etc sequence.
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Thank you I will give that a go and try again. 
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Thank you so much, got it now, I think I need a glass of Vino lol
Thanks again
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In this lesson, when you analyse the triad D-F-A, you make it overly complicated in my opinion. You look at the D major scale, D - E - F# - G - A - B - C# - D, and you say “the D major triad is D - F# - A, therefore our triad D - F - A is a minor triad”.
I would simply say “from D to F it is 3 half tones and from F to A it is 4 half tones. Therefore D - F - A is a minor chord”.
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Hmm. Interesting perspective; not one I share.
Thinking in terms tones and semitones is much more cumbersome for almost people, regardless of experience. It is also removed from the music.
Thinking in terms of intervals, degrees etc is not only much easier, it is much more connected musically. Its all related.
Cheers, Shane
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I think the way Justin (and many others) explains things, a minor triad formed formed by flattening the 3rd note of the triad. I’m still a beginner, but I think this is using scale degrees to discuss the chord formation. I’m probably saying the same thing as Shane @sclay, just using different words. While counting tones is technically correct, for me it’s more abstract and loses the relationship to the major chord formed using the 1st-3rd-5th notes of the scale.
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Nothing wrong with @RainRunner’s approach IMO, it’s just a different way of looking at the same thing. In the long run, it’s worth knowing that
- A minor 3rd stacked on a major 3rd gives you a major triad
- A major 3rd stacked on a minor 3rd gives you a minor triad
- A major 3rd stacked on a major 3rd gives you an augmented triad
- A minor 3rd stacked on a minor 3rd gives you a diminished triad
However, I think that in the case of beginners who are getting familiar with the major scale, it’s also worth emphasizing how the diatonic chords of a given major scale relate to the scale notes. After all, pretty much all other scales are derived from the major scale in one way or another. Also, as you get familiar with intervals (major / minor / perfect / etc), you will not need to count the semitones between two given notes.
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Claude, you make a very valid point and offer another perspective.
[Justin says] “the D major triad is D - F# - A, therefore our triad D - F - A is a minor triad”.
There is a line of thinking in music theory and analysis that everything derives from the major scale.
Justin’s approach is to analyse some triad whose root note is D. He therefore references the D major scale and finds in there that the 1, 3, 5 are D, F#, A respectively.
However, the triad being analysed is D, F, A.
Therefore the 3rd within the triad is a flattened note compared to the 3rd within the D major scale. A b3 makes for a minor triad.
Your approach is to know that the first interval (from root to 3rd) of a triad determines its character. If that interval is a major 3rd (four semitones) then the triad is major.
If that interval is three semitones then that triad is minor.
The interval from D to F (the Note Circle can be used if necessary here) is three semitones. That is a minor 3rd.
Therefore it is a D minor triad.
Both perfectly good.
Loooving Music Theory so far 
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This musical knowlege has banged open many doors…awesome!
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