Triad Mastery: Memorize Triads the Practical Way

Quickly and easily identify the notes to ANY triad.
►► Download my FREE Music Theory Survival Guide → www.JoshRing.com/Free
00:00 Overview and Free Guide
01:07 Long Way...
02:22 Shortcut
04:24 All Major Triads
07:12 Minor Triads
08:58 Triad Formulas
09:32 Memorization Tips
13:10 Practice with Me
15:14 Grab the Free Guide!
Triads are the building blocks to most styles of music. It’s so vital to instantly know the notes to all triads, especially major and minor triads. Diminished and Augmented chords are also important components. Memorizing the notes to these chords is sometimes easier said than done.
Today we discuss strategies to more quickly and easily visualize the notes to all major triads, and understand the relationships between them. We group them into 3 categories to help with memory. Using those 3 groups of major triads as our starting place, we can easily find the minor, diminished, and augmented triads using simple formulas.
We also discuss a few memorization tips to quickly recall the 3 groups of major triads. To help practice these, I have FREE Quizlet flashcards below. They’re organized into the levels based on the topics in the video. I recommend starting with Level 1 and only moving on to the next level once it becomes instantaneous. The answer side of the flashcard also has which of the 3 groups the chord belongs to.
►► Don’t forget to download my Music Theory Survival Guide! → www.JoshRing.com/Free
Also, leave a comment below if there’s anything I can help you understand regarding music theory or ear training!
Quizlet Flashcards: quizlet.com/Josh_Ring_Music/f...
Level 1: only the 7 Major Triads with roots based on the 7 natural notes
Level 2: all of the most common Major Triads
Level 3: all of the common (and not-so-common) Major and Minor Triads

[@bartromanowski1262]

You just unlocked something in my brain here! I can calculate every triad now, that's so amazing. Thank you!

[@Josh-Ring]

Great to hear! Glad it was helpufl!

[@sibusisogumede]

You're a genius dude,this is a rare way of looking at chord formation.❤❤

[@Josh-Ring]

Thanks! I really appreciate that!

[@timahern9826]

This is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen in my life

[@Josh-Ring]

Thank you so much! Glad it was helpful!

[@StarDarkAshes]

Short cuts are the best! It’s funny how after you play music for years and years and years and then you kind of see how it all fits together. Do you notice how it could’ve all been made so easy by certain shortcuts, and most teachers aren’t showing them. Even though I’ve been playing for a long time every once in a while, I still come across a new perspective, that makes it so much easier.😊

[@Josh-Ring]

Exactly! I love that the more we study music, the more we discover about these little things that have always been there. Thanks, Christopher, hope you have a great day!

[@gavinsuttle6362]

I wish you good luck in teaching music theory through this channel!

[@Josh-Ring]

Thank you, Gavin! I’ll need it 😊

[@joshbernard7450]

Ha! Cb = B made an appearance in the video! Nice! Nice to see my prof providing much needed clarity on a subject I need work on. Great Job Dr Ring!

[@Josh-Ring]

Thanks Josh! Glad it was helpful!

[@Pedro_MVS_Lima]

I agree, this is a very practical way to memorize how to spell out triads and I'm looking forward to see further videos from you. Thanks!

[@Josh-Ring]

Thanks, Pedro! That means a lot!

[@opiret44]

This is great, the way this was explained felt so intuitive.

[@Josh-Ring]

Thanks, I’m so glad it helped!

[@guyug6940]

cant wait to check the guide out, thanks!

[@Josh-Ring]

Thanks, hope you enjoy it! If you have any questions on it, let me know.

[@nathanlain8606]

Amazing way of looking at it!

[@Josh-Ring]

Thanks Nate!

[@gavinsuttle6362]

Another really effective way to go about memorizing all the triads (even 7th9th11th and even13ths) is these multiple steps. 1) Memorize CEGBDFAC, and as you can see no matter where you start you can find the triads by doing to the right. (no sharps or flats yet) i.e 1 3 5 7 9 11 and 13 of every scale. (No sharps or flats) 2) memorize saying CEG EGB GBD BDF DFA FAC ACE CEG, again that is all the triads in existence without sharps or flats yet. 3) memorize these triads in the perfect order or whatever pattern you want. CEG FAC BDE EGB ACE DFA GBD BDF EGB ACE DFA GBD. 4)Next like you said memorize the pattern CEG FAC BbDF EbGBb AbCEb DbFAb GbBbDb BD#F# EG#B AC#E DF#A GBD THEN CONGRATULATIONS you have memorized all major tirads that exist. You can then alter the chords to minor, dim, aug etc at will and memorize them if you want. Then to add 7ths is pretty straight forwards. (You repeat the pattern with the next note)

[@Josh-Ring]

Yes, GREAT advice - I love it! Thank you!

[@gavinsuttle6362]

No prob

[@joegriffithsmusic]

What's interesting is that if you learn CEG, DFA, EGB ect... you will most likely instinctually be able to do the CEGBDFA thing anyway.

[@gavinsuttle6362]

Yeah, its extremely neat how it a fits together!

[@AngryAndy_]

Thanks for sharing, am currently teaching myself to play and this has given me some really useful tips :)

[@Josh-Ring]

That’s awesome! So glad to hear it was helpful!

[@ademadem8447]

شرح جميل جدا رغم عدم اتقاني اللغة الانجليزية جيدا لكني افهم جيدا ما تشرح كل الاحترام قناة تعليمية بطريقة مبسطة ورائعة اشكرك استفدت منك 🌺🌻🌼✌

[@Josh-Ring]

Glad you enjoyed it and that it helped. Thank you for watching!

[@lawrencetaylor4101]

I learned my chords with this system and it made it easier. Good system.

[@Josh-Ring]

Glad it helped!

[@brock_bergeron]

Great start!!! Can’t wait to see what else you do Cb = B

[@Josh-Ring]

Thanks Brock!

[@joegriffithsmusic]

Great video! I teach guitar and foundational music theory mostly and have always used this method to teach them the triads and extended chords too! Was surprised to have never seen this way anywhere else on the internet, so I was excited to see the thumbnail to this video because I could immediately tell that you taught it in the same way! I think the only slight difference is instead of the same, middle, bottom concept (which I actually think is a really good way of thinking about it), I just say to memorise the CEG as C Major, DFA as D minor and so on (so just basically remember the chord of the group of notes) and from there you can change it into whatever you want.For example, if you want a D Major chord, well as long as you know that DFA is D Minor naturally and you know that you need to raise the 3rd (the middle note) to change the minor into a major, then it becomes a D Major.

[@joegriffithsmusic]

Also, it works for intervals in general. If you want to remember 6ths then learn all the letter groupings (literally takes 5 minutes at most I find): A F B G C A D B E C F D G E And then remember which are naturally minor 6ths (e.g. A to F, B to G ect...) and which are naturally major 6ths (C to A, F to D ect ..) and then you can change them to be a major 6th, minor 6th, augmented 6th, whatever you want!

[@Josh-Ring]

Awesome, Joe. Yeah your way makes great sense too. That really helps reinforce the diatonic chords for C major. I like it. Thank so much!

[@joegriffithsmusic]

@@Josh-Ring Both ways definitely work! I just like the fact that after memorising the triads you have basically memorised all your 3rd and 5 intervals. 7ths aren't hard for a shortcut because you can think of them as one letter down and 2nds one letter up. Then all you really have to spend a bit of time on are 4ths and 6ths. It's crazy how powerful it is to know that, cause even though I can't play the piano and have no technique in it at all, I can still work all of this stuff out on the instrument pretty quickly as long as I know my notes.

[@SteveRockstein2]

excellent info. thank you. subscribed.

[@Josh-Ring]

Thank you so much, Steve! That means a lot.

[@xxlilbabeexx1]

Amazing video!

[@Josh-Ring]

Thanks Amelia! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@ChuckEldon]

mind freakn blown

[@Josh-Ring]

Glad it helped!

[@jameslabs1]

Thanks

[@Josh-Ring]

My pleasure!

[@kaileung8514]

You are great! For me, it is a new way to play any triads quickly, not memorize them all. Thanks!

[@Josh-Ring]

Thanks! And yes, exactly. It's a system to get to any triad quickly without having to memorize every single triad.

[@sanjeevtambe8382]

Very nice sir

[@Josh-Ring]

Thanks and welcome

[@timsmith190]

If I only knew your system to understand traids would it be useful (and should I) to know the intervals?

[@Josh-Ring]

I think it still good to know the intervals. I find them helpful when working with various 7th chords and extended harmony (9ths, 11ths, and 13ths), for example.

[@al3xxandro_]

15:01 is a double-sharp up means we raise the entire notes of the chord by 2 half steps?

[@Josh-Ring]

Hi Alex, the double sharp (looks like the “x”) means we raise just that one note up by two half steps, so the F double sharp is enharmonically the same as a G. Hope that clarifies it!

[@ekambaramts6951]

Super

[@Josh-Ring]

Thanks!

[@gavinsuttle6362]

How important do you think learning how to sight read is in our culture today?

[@Josh-Ring]

I think it depends on context and what you do. As an accompanist and church musician, I sight read constantly, so I think it’s very important. And being able to see the harmony quickly helps me sight reading significantly better. Knowing the chords gives me one thing to think about at a time instead of having to read each individual note as a bunch of unrelated pitches.