Major Triad
Three notes, C, E and G, and the sound almost every song comes home to. The note in the middle is the one that matters: move it down by one key and the same chord turns minor.
- 3 notes
- 1 3 5
- home
which styles use it
- Pop
- Rock & folk
- Country
- Gospel
Which notes are in a major triad?
A root, a note four half steps above it, and a note three half steps above that. In C: C, E and G.
- C, the root
- E, the major third
- G, the fifth
On a keyboard it is easier to see than to count. Play C, skip D, play E, skip F, play G. Every triad is built by skipping a note each time, and that skipping is what gives it the open sound. Play C, D and E together instead and you get a cluster.
Why does it sound so finished?
Because it is already hiding inside a single note. Play a low C and you are also hearing a stack of much quieter notes above it, and numbers four, five and six in that stack are exactly C, E and G. The three notes stand in the ratio 4:5:6, the simplest one there is after the octave and the fifth, so their overtones land on top of each other instead of next to each other. More in the harmonic series.
A minor triad does not appear in that stack until partials ten, twelve and fifteen. Bigger numbers, less overlap, slightly less blend. That is the measurable difference between the two, and it is a long way from happy and sad.
Where do you find it in a key?
Stack thirds on every degree of a major scale and you always get the same row: major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, diminished. In C that is C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am and Bdim.
So three of the seven chords in any major key are major triads, and they sit on the first, the fourth and the fifth degree. That is the entire reason C, F and G keep turning up together, and why the same three shapes transposed cover so much music.
Major, minor, diminished or augmented?
Four chords, the same three positions, and each one moves a single note. Play them back to back on the same root before you read the reasons.
- Major (C E G) - Four half steps then three. The blend is closest to the natural overtones, so this is the one that sounds finished.
- Minor (C Eb G) - Three then four, the stacking reversed. The fifth is still perfect, so it is every bit as stable as major, just darker.
- Diminished (C Eb Gb) - Three then three. The outer interval is now a tritone and the chord leans hard on whatever comes next.
- Augmented (C E G sharp) - Four then four. Every gap is identical, so no note can claim to be the root and the chord floats.
How do you find it on your instrument?
On piano, count half steps from the root and let black and white keys count equally: four up, then three. From C major you reach the other three by moving one note. E down to E flat gives C minor, then G down to G flat gives C diminished, and from C major G up to G sharp gives C augmented.
On guitar the difference between major and minor is one finger. Play an A major chord and move the finger on the B string back one fret: that is A minor. The same move sits on the G string between E and E minor. That fret is the third, and it is the whole switch.
Common mistakes
- Playing all three notes low down
Below middle C the third turns to mud. Keep the root and the fifth low and put the third higher up.
- Thinking major means happy
It reads as bright next to minor, which is a comparison and not a fixed emotion. Listeners in Papua New Guinea with little exposure to Western music showed almost no trace of the major is happy effect, while Western listeners showed it strongly. The blend is acoustics, the mood is largely learned.
Keep going
Everything in chords
- Major Triad
- Minor Triad
- Diminished Triad
- Augmented Triad