Master The Minor Triad All Over The Guitar Fretboard

James Melton
November 16, 2023

GOOD FOR

Your journey toward fretboard mastery won’t be complete until you’ve mastered the minor triad! By mastering both major and minor triads on the fretboard, you’ll—

Improve your ability to improvise lines and comp through chord progressions on the guitar
Piece together how smaller triads play into larger chord qualities
Get one step closer to demystifying the fretboard

This post will focus on minor triads. We’ll discuss the minor triad in music theory, how to construct minor triads in all inversions, how minor triads lay over the fretboard, and how minor triads fit into larger chords.

By the end of this post, you’ll be well on your way to fretboard mastery.

If you want more information like this, then you need to check out the Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle. The Inner Circle has the educational resources and jazz advice you need to take your jazz playing to the next level.

Plus, there is a bunch of jazz guitar-specific content to help you master the fretboard and boost your jazz guitar chops.

Ready to play like the pros? Come see what the Inner Circle has to offer!

The Importance Of Learning Triads All Over The Fretboard

Many guitar players want to get right to the juicer chord qualities like the crazy dominant chords with many altered extensions. However, these players fail to realize that larger, richer chord qualities are built on the foundation of triads.

Taking your time and learning the basics first will make your harmonic foundation much more stable!

Anyone can learn how to place their fingers on the fretboard and play a stock G7 altered chord. However, only someone who has mastered triads understands that you can impose a Db major triad over a G root note to get a more precise and specific G7 altered sound.

For example, check out the following chords.

G7b5 stock voicing verses Db/G slash chord

The first one is a stock G7b5 chord.
The second is a Db major triad imposed over a G root note.

The second chord gives you a more precise G7alt chord with the b9 and the b5 present.

You’ll only get this level of harmonic control by mastering the major triad, the minor triad, the augmented triad, and the diminished triad all over the fretboard. However, this doesn’t only apply to chords. It also applies to improvisation and playing lines over changes.

This is the real importance of mastering all triad qualities on your instrument.

Mastering triads gives you greater harmonic control when comping chords or improvising over changes!

Triads are the essential building blocks of everything else that follows in music. So don’t skip out on learning how to play triads! If you are new to jazz guitar and want a crash course on how to get started, check out our ultimate guide to jazz guitar for beginners.

Triad Theory Review

Let’s take some time to review what triads are. Triads are three-note chords consisting of a root note, a third, and a fifth. If you notice, the distance between C and E is a major third, and the distance between E and G is a minor third.

This will be helpful to remember for later.

Here is a major triad in C:

This C major triad consists of a root note [C], a major third [E], and a perfect fifth [G].

Diatonic Triads

We can build diatonic triads for every major or minor key by taking each note in the major scale and finding the stacked thirds above it. These give us the common chords you’d expect to find in any key signature.

In the major key of C, we get this:

Diatonic major and minor chords in the key of C

vii°. B Diminished Triad: Leading Tone Chord
vi. A Minor Triad: Submediant Chord
V. G Major Triad: Dominant Chord
IV: F Major Triad: Subdominant Chord
iii. E Minor Triad: Mediant Chord
ii. D Minor Triad: Supertonic Chord
I. C Major Triad: Tonic Chord

The relationship between these diatonic triads remains the same, even when we play in different major keys. The notes may change, but the relationships between the notes remain.

In both major and minor keys, you’ll notice mostly major and minor triads, plus a diminished triad (Bdim). We will focus on minor chord triads for the rest of this post.

Minor Triad Formula

So, what’s the formula for a minor triad? There are a few ways to consider how a minor triad is built.

Whereas the major triad was a root note, a major third, and a perfect fifth, a minor triad consists of a root note, a minor third, and a perfect fifth.

Compare a C major triad with a C minor triad:

What changed?

In both triads, the third note, a G, is the same distance from C (a perfect fifth). However, the C major triad’s second note, the E natural, becomes an E flat in a C minor triad.

The distance between C and Eb is a minor third interval. Changing the middle note from an E to an Eb makes the chord quality minor.

Another way to think of the minor triad formula is to see it as the inverse or opposite of the major triad formula. Remember, for major triads, the distance between the first and second notes is a major third, and the distance between the second and third notes is a minor third.

Here are the formulas for all four kinds of triad qualities:

Major Triad Formula:

C to E = Major Third
E to G = Minor Third

Major Third + Minor Third = Major Triad

Minor Triad Formula:

C to Eb = Minor Third
Eb to G = Major Third

Minor Third + Major Third = Minor Triad

Diminished Triad Formula:

C to Eb = Minor Third
Eb to Gb = Minor Third

Minor Third + Minor Third = Diminished Triad

Augmented Triad Formula:

C to E# = Major Third
E# to G# = Major Third

Major Third + Major Third = Augmented Triad

Check out these posts on major triad shapes, augmented triad shapes, and diminished triad shapes to learn more about the other triad qualities.

Triad Inversions

The world of music theory likes to keep things contained and manageable. But, out in the wilds of actual music, things aren’t always so cut and dry. It’s much less common to encounter root position triads in the wild.

We’ve only discussed root position triads so far—triads with perfectly stacked thirds where the lowest note is the root, the middle note is the third, and the top note is the 5th. However, these voicings are often impractical, especially on the guitar!

Many open chords you already know are not in root position. Yes, often the root is the lowest note, but what happens after that is a mix of all the other notes in a non-serialized order (not root, then 3rd, then 5th).

Take the much-loved D major open chord:

D Major Open Chord on Guitar: D major triad

If we stack the notes in order of lowest to highest, we get:

F# or the Major Third
D or the Root Note
A or the Perfect Fifth
D or the Root Note

In fact, this popular open chord is a D major triad in 2nd inversion over an additional root note. If that doesn’t make sense, pay attention to the next bit!

Root Position:

Let’s use a G minor triad to demonstrate the concept of inversions. The formula for a G minor triad would be:

Perfect Fifth: D
Minor Third: Bb
Root Note: G

1st Inversion: The root moves to the top, and the third becomes the lowest note

To build a first inversion minor triad, we need to take the root [G] and move it to the top of the chord. This puts the 3rd of the chord on the bottom:

Root Note: G
Perfect 5th: D
Minor 3rd: Bb

2nd Inversion: The third moves to the top, and the fifth becomes the lowest note

To build a second inversion minor triad, we then take the 3rd and move that to the top of the chord. This leaves the 5th on the bottom:

Minor 3rd: Bb
Root Note: G
Perfect 5th: D

BEFORE YOU CONTINUE...

If music theory has always seemed confusing to you and you wish someone would make it feel simple, our free guide will help you unlock jazz theory secrets.

Minor Triad Shapes On All String Groups

Now that we’ve thoroughly explored what triads are, how to build them, and what inversions are, we can apply them to our guitars. We’ll be using the following four string groups:

E (low)-A-D
A-D-G
D-G-B
G-B-E (high)

Some minor shapes might feel vaguely familiar if you already know major triad shapes. Remember, in music theory, the only difference between a major triad and a minor triad is the third and whether it is a major third or a minor third. The other two notes, the root and the fifth are the same.

This theory plays out on the fretboard. If you flat the third of any major triad shape, you’ll get a minor triad. If you already know major triad shapes, then this info will be quite helpful.

Minor Triad Inversions on the E, A, and D Strings

Here is the first string group:

Minor Triad: all inversions on E, A, and D strings

Minor Triad Inversions on the A, D, and G Strings

Here is the next string group:

Minor Triad: all inversions on A, D, and G strings

Minor Triad Inversions on the D, G, and B Strings

Here is the second-to-last string group:

Minor Triad: all inversions on D, G, and B strings

Minor Triad Inversions on G, B, and E Strings

Here is the last string group:

Minor Triad: all inversions on G, B, and E strings

Minor Triad Chords Practice Tips:

When first learning these shapes, keeping a few things in mind is important.

Learn actively, not passively. You aren’t simply memorizing arbitrary shapes. These minor triads make up larger minor chords, minor scales, and arpeggios. Try to see how these small bits of harmonic information connect to scales and chords you might already know.
Always practice in time. Musicians have limited time to practice. This especially becomes apparent the older we get. That’s why it’s so important to practice smarter. When practicing these shapes, you can also practice your sense of time by turning on the metronome and creating practice scenarios.
Practice these shapes in all 12 keys. G minor is great, but there are 11 other minor keys and a whole range of different tonalities to practice! Be sure to transpose these minor triad shapes into other keys. The exercise at the bottom of the post will help encourage you to do so!
Practice across the strings, too. These minor triad diagrams separate triad shapes by string groups. However, in a practical setting, you are just as likely to play across the strings as you are to play up and down the fretboard. Be sure also to practice these shapes across the strings.
Apply these shapes in new musical scenarios. After developing the tools, you’ll need to use them! Try out these new shapes when comping over a minor chord progression.

This next exercise is designed to help you do all five of these things!

Applying Minor Triad Shapes Over An A Minor Blues

Now, let’s take the shapes we’ve learned and apply them to chord changes! The following exercise has you playing basic minor triad shapes over a minor blues progression. Pay attention! You’ll notice how certain patterns repeat as we move through the inversions.

This exercise prioritizes moving across string groups, so it should be a great challenge if you are used to keeping inversions on one string group:

A minor blues using minor traids, major triads, and diminished triads

The First Four Bars

Here are minor triads for the first four bars of this minor blues:

First four bars of an A minor blues using minor traids, major triads, and diminished triads

Notice how the voicings change on the way back down despite the staff having the same notes. Pay attention to how root position, first inversion, triad, and second inversion triad shapes change depending on where you are on the fretboard.

The Next Four Bars

Here are the next four bars:

Bars 5 - 8 of an A minor blues using minor traids, major triads, and diminished triads

Notice how the sequence of shapes repeats in a different area of the fretboard when transposing these shapes to D minor.

Bonus! The Last Four Bars

The last four bars make use of diminished triads and major triads!

The last four bars of an A minor blues using minor traids, major triads, and diminished triads

But how does a diminished triad work when playing over a dominant seventh chord? A dominant seventh chord is made of four notes.

E♭ – Minor 7th
C – Perfect 5th
A – Major 3rd
F – Root Note

If we remove the root note, which the bass player will likely be playing, we are left with an A-diminished triad. It’s the tritone between A and E♭ that makes this a dominant chord.

An F7 chord can be thought of as an A diminished Triad triad over F

To learn more about blues chord progressions, check out this post on four blues chord progressions you need to know in jazz.

Join the Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle and Get On Track To Jazz Mastery

Ready to take your guitar playing and jazz musicianship to the next level? Then you’ve got to check out what the Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle offers.

Members join a vibrant community of like-minded jazz players and gain access to over ten years of jazz education resources, materials, workshops, masterclasses, and courses designed to take your jazz skills to the next level.

Plus, there are plenty of guitar-specific resources to help you master jazz on the fretboard.

Come see what the Inner Circle is all about!

TAKE YOUR JAZZ PLAYING TO THE NEXT LEVEL.

We help musicians of all instruments start improvising confidently over jazz standards in just 30 days without mind-numbing hours of practice or the overwhelm.

TAKE YOUR JAZZ PLAYING TO THE NEXT LEVEL.

We help musicians of all instruments start improvising confidently over jazz standards in as little as 30 days without mind-numbing hours of practice or the overwhelm.

“Jazz music is the power of now. There is no script. It’s conversation. The emotion is given to you by musicians as they make split-second decisions to fulfill what they feel the moment requires.”

WYNTON MARSALIS

OUR PROVEN PROCESS FOR LEARNING JAZZ STANDARDS LIKE A PRO

A step-by-step guide for how to effectively learn jazz standards so you’ll feel confident playing them, and won’t forget them.

Master The Minor Triad All Over The Guitar Fretboard

Table of Contents

The Importance Of Learning Triads All Over The Fretboard