Triads

   Inversion 0 |  Inversion 1 |  Inversion 2

   A   C#  E   |  C#  E   A   |  E   A   C#

   B   D#  F#  |  D#  F#  D   |  F#  B   D#

   C   E   G   |  E   G   C   |  G   C   E

   D   F#  A   |  F#  A   D   |  A   D   F#

   E   G#  B   |  G#  B   E   |  B   E   G#

   F   A   C   |  A   C   F   |  C   F    A

   G   B   D   |  B   D   G   |  D   G    B

Learn the 7th Chords in Solfege. Chords are just stacked 3rds.

   __________________________________________
   |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
   Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do
   |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
   Do    Mi    So    Ti    Re    Fa    La    Do

   Do    Mi    So    Ti

   Re    Fa    La    Do

   Mi    So    Ti    Re

   Fa    La    Do    Mi

   So    Ti    Re    Fa

   Ti    Re    Fa    La

(One fix to the table: the first inversion of B major should read D♯ F♯ B, not D♯ F♯ D.)

The plain idea

A triad is a three-note chord built by stacking two thirds: a root, a third above it, and a fifth above the root. C–E–G is C major. That’s it: almost every chord you’ll meet in pop, rock, folk and classical music is a triad or a triad with extras added.

There are four kinds, depending on the size of the two thirds (counted in semitones):

Type	Root → 3rd	3rd → 5th	Example on C	Sound
Major	4	3	C E G	bright, stable
Minor	3	4	C E♭ G	darker, softer
Diminished	3	3	C E♭ G♭	tense, unstable
Augmented	4	4	C E G♯	dreamy, unresolved

Why it matters

Triads are the atoms of harmony. Learn to build and recognise them and chord charts stop being a list of shapes to memorise and become something you can work out yourself, anywhere on the neck. The table above (major triads in all three inversions) is exactly the map you need for that.

Inversions: same chord, different bottom note

The root position (inversion 0) has the root at the bottom: C E G. First inversion moves the root to the top: E G C. Second inversion moves the third up as well: G C E. All three are still C major, but they sound subtly different and sit in different places on the fretboard.

Why bother? Because inversions let you move between chords with tiny finger movements, which is what makes accompaniment sound smooth (good voice leading). Going from C to F:

Root positions: C E G → F A C. Every note jumps.
Better: C E G → C F A. The C stays put, E moves up one semitone to F, G moves up two to A.

The second version is how pianists and good rhythm guitarists actually play.

An everyday analogy: a three-person photo

Three friends stand for a photo. Whoever is on the left, they are the same three people; the photo just has a different look. A triad’s notes can be rearranged in any order and octave and it’s the same chord. The lowest note, the person on the left, colours the whole picture, which is why inversions sound different even though they’re “the same”.

A worked example: building the triads of G major on the top three strings

The G major scale is G A B C D E F♯. Stack alternate notes to get its triads: G (G B D), Am (A C E), Bm (B D F♯), C (C E G), D (D F♯ A), Em (E G B), F♯dim (F♯ A C). On the top three strings (G, B, high E) you can find each one in three inversions within a few frets. Try it: play G major on those strings as frets 7-8-7 (D, G, B, a second inversion). Now find the nearest C major: frets 5-5-3, which gives C, E and G, still on the same strings, a root-position C just two frets lower. Only small moves are needed. Exploring this way, slowly, is the fastest route to learning the fretboard.

Common misconceptions

“Major is happy, minor is sad.” A useful first approximation, but context, tempo and rhythm matter as much.
“Power chords are triads.” A power chord (root and fifth) has no third, so it is neither major nor minor; that ambiguity is part of its rock sound.
“You need all three notes.” In practice the fifth is often left out; the root and third define the chord.

How it connects

Music Theory, Scales, Chord Progressions
The Alphabet: the thirds row is every triad in the scale, end to end.

The truth revealed: three notes, two thirds, four flavours. Everything else is decoration.