Triad Chips Basics

Triad Chips are incredibly useful for Blues, Pop, and Soul. They’re like little slices of the chords, and sound great! https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/triad-chips-basics-bg-1805

A great song that includes these chips is I Heard it Through the Grapevine. On the second and fourth beat I think :slight_smile:

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love this, however for whatever reason I play triads with my first and third finger (can’t seem to get my second finger to work correctly), so I palm mute.

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I’m the same , second finger keeps muting the B string a soon I change position.

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So u can play blues with just the major chords (triad chips)rather then 7 chords?

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Struggling to get that tone that Justin has. My Gretsch semi hollow just sounds twangy. My amp is a Boss Katana 50. I have it on the clean setting, master, volume and gain at about 9 o’clock, bass at 12, mid at about 11 and treble at 9. It doesn’t seem to matter how much booster I use

If I use the crunch mode the amp buzzes.

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Sorry all, I tried finding the right lesson thread to post this in but for some reason don’t see the triad chip lesson listed.

Curious to know if there are any real draw backs to playing triad chips by using my index finger barring the e and b strings (like normal) but using my ring finger on the g string and using my middle finger to mute the top 3 strings? I tend to play the triad this way even if picking the notes individually as it feels more comfortable and for whatever reason is an easier and more clean change for me.

Thanks!

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I was both impressed and befuddled trying to figure out how Justin was playing the backing rhythm while hitting those triads during the intro/demo… of course it was just a looper or backing track, but on first watch I really thought he was doing something inscrutably incredible with his 3rd and 4th fingers there.

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For me this lesson is by far the gardest so far. Theory - super simple, but I can’t coordinate the muting, and it does not sound good. Should I stay here untill I get it, or you think I can move on and maybe it will “click” one day?

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Hi Maciej, @panmaciej
Let me speak for myself, I also found the theory very simple, but applying it properly took a while and I continued quietly with the other lessons and practiced this meanwhile … and at one point it all came together well in my head and hands.
Greetings,Rogier

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I have kept this as a practice item in my routine for about 4 months. I’m just about to “claim victory” and move on.

My goal was to perform this excercise cleanly and comfortably on the 5 most popular chord progressions, in both the key of C and G, at 80bpm, changing chords every bar (4 beats).

The concept is simple, but getting the fingering, muting and movements to be fluid has taken much longer than I would have expected as well.

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It’s not natural for me to put my ring finger and little finger on the low strings, rather I prefer to stop the first two low strings with my thumb and stop the third (D) with part of the middle finger. It is fine anyway?

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I also feel this movement a bit uncomfortable for me. I can easily mute E and A with my palm and then D with the tip of the finger that’s playing G.

I don’t know if that’s bad technique or if we really need to mute the strings with the pinky and the ring finger of the left hand for some reason.

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@HutDave @CarlosAP

Using the pinky and ring to mute is not a requirement. However, muting is a requirement. As long as you are muting the unused strings in some way, you’ll be fine.

I don’t use my pinky or ring finger to mute either, although many players do. If the situation arises where I need to mute with the ring or pinky finger, I’ll just learn that skill then.

Ed

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Thanks @Fast-Eddie

I am able to mute the strings without using my pinky but I was trying to do it “the Justin way” but I find it harder.

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Trying to figure out the chord progression for the recommended song „Crazy“.
So far I found this to be the beginning of the verse:
Bb-G-Cm-F-Bb-G-Cm-F-Bb-…
From there I find it very difficult to proceed.
Any help appreciated.
Bruno

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In the text Justin says “A great idea is to choose some beginner songs where the chords are real simple, like only A, D, and E,” but not all songs work with this staccato/muted chords as it’s more like a reggae feel to my ears! Any ideas on songs that would work for this type of chord?

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Anyone?

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Any 12 Bar Blues Stuart, play them on the 2 and the 4. 1000s of songs and a good practice method to get used to playing them in situ. :sunglasses:

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You may be right but you can’t tell me that you can play I Walk The Line or Bad Moon Rising with these staccato/muted chords and make them sound like the record! That’s the bit I’m confused about.

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