In the introduction, I explained that, strictly speaking, the open chords on 4 or 5 or 6 strings can be correctly called triad chords. This is due to them containing only the triad notes and no extra notes.
E is a 6-string chord but it only contains 3 notes, the triad notes which constitute E major. The fact that some of those notes are duplicated (at octave intervals) does not negate the fact it has only 3 notes.
E = E, G#, B = Root, 3, 5
I just tried playing a minor pentatonic scale and pausing to play triad chords or little riffs off of the scale. Practicing two skills at once!
Weaving in and out of triads and a chosen scale is a great way of developing lead lines and soloing techniques which will also target chord tones and move with the underlying chord progression. Great stuff. I wondered if we would have some more advanced players who would jump in, see the potential and try new things.
How can I avoid playing string 4? Shall I palm mute it or is there another opportunity?
Palm mute and picking accuracy help. If you are strumming the triads you need a little more wrist action, some rotation and flicking movement and a little less down and up with the arm. Check Justin’s lesson on triad chips. https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/triad-chips-basics-bg-1805
… and ‘educational discussion’ with my son made me miss it
Nevertheless, I checked out the excellent blurb/diagrams/backing tracks and it’s making a lot of sense
Hats off Mr. Moderator for another excellent package!
For anyone who wants to practice triad shapes this is a lesson boring way and you may find this interesting. @Richard_close2u if this is inappropriate or infringing on your lesson feel free to delete it.
Take it real slow and start with small bites and make sure you use the right triad shapes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7n7XwBRTgQ this involves both Major and minor triads so take your time.
I chose only the G, B and E strings as a place to start.
Triads can be found on:
G, B & E
D, G & B
A, D & G
E, A & D
Those are ‘closed’ triads - on adjacent strings. There are also open triads which still only use three actual strings but which span across four or more strings. Their formation / fingering misses one or more strings.
I’ve tabbed the triads in the Tomo video @stitch linked above for anyone who wants to practice Hotel California with triads. The actual chord progression for the intro to Hotel Cal is Bm F#7 Asus2 E7sus2 G D Em7. Tomo just uses major and minor triads in his video (Bm F# A E G D Em F#).
The root note of each triad is circled in red.
My tabs are a bit messy. The bar markers are actually on the beats. He plays through the chord progression three times. The first time he plays three diffrent triad shapes for each chord on beats 1, 2 & 3. The second and third times he plays one shape for each chord on beats 1 & 4 (except the last bar which he only strums on beat 1). Hopefully the strumming pattern is clear on the tab. If not watch his video at half speed or less.
Please feel free to point out any errors.
Edit: @Richard_close2u has pointed out a couple of errors. To avoid confusing anyone I’ve deleted the tabs. Standby for an updated version.
I’m not going to delete a link to Tomo showing a great way to develop forming and moving between triads. I know he is a strong advocate of learning and using triads.
My preview material showed major and minor triads on G, B & E strings but the live sessiin covered major only. This viseo is therefore beyond the concepts I covered. But my second triads session several weeks from now will include minors so it is a good primer for that if anyone fancies the challenge it is definitely good for people who already know the shapes.
Hopefully my session was also interesting, not boring.
Sterling work, thanks for doing this and sharing.
A couple of things.
Tab is normally written with low E at the bottom and high E at the top. You have inverted this convention which may confuse people.
I’m viewing on the small screen of my smartphone but I only saw G, B & E string triads, none on D, G & B.
Only the first time through Rick. The second and third times he plays only one triad shape per chord. He strums the chord, holds it for three beats and strums the same shape again on the 4th beat. I’m pretty sure that’s what my tab shows.
@jacksprat Good stuff Chris. The first run through, moving up the neck with three versions of each triad gives a melodic sense similar to the famous picked intro. Dropping to static triads played on the 1 and 4 or just the 1 moves it to having the sense of the guitar accompaniment role over which a vocalist could sing the lyrics.
I have made some small edits to your latest version because in the second part some chords only get a single strum on the count of 1 and are not then played again on 4. I have also rearranged into three blocks of eight bars. The first is the ‘intro’ part and I made this much bigger for easier reading of the tab. The second and third parts are repeats so I placed these side by side to show the pattern of the progression.
Hi James, Welcome to the community! As far as I know there are not recordings available of the actual club meetings. However, there is an archive in the Community for most club meetings. On the archive for this particular meeting, Richard has provided the pre-club handout as well as a detailed summary of what he covered (as well as some info that will be covered in future) on the Resources tab.
If you haven’t yet, head over to the Introduce Yourself page and tell us a bit about yourself!
