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Practicing triads

04 Sep 2025

There are various posts and videos about practicing triads for the guitar. I’ve been working on this recently, so here are some thoughts for me, and maybe for you.

There are many posts about moving triads vertically (across the neck) and horizontally (up and down the neck), which are great; however, they’re also potentially dull. Dull things aren’t fun to practice, so maybe a better approach is to quickly get through some dull stuff, and then try to use it.

Part one: The basics - drills for a single chord only

  • Pick one chord from the circle of fifths (C, G, D, E, A, B, Gb, Db, Ab, Eb, Bb, F)

Initial hacking

With the triad chosen, just move it around and explore where it falls. Shift it vertically and horizontally, e.g.:

  • For each position in the CAGED system, play a closed major triad for the chord, starting on the lowest three strings, and moving to the higher strings.
  • Move to the next position in the CAGED system, and repeat, from lowest to highest.
  • Repeat the above, from highest to lowest.
  • Now, starting on the lowest three strings, shift the triad horizontally from its lowest position on the neck to the highest.
  • Repeat on the next set of strings.

2-minute drills

Still using the single chord and triad, set a timer for, say, two minutes, and a metronome with a slow beat. For each drill, one beat = one triad shift (wherever)

For all of these drills, aim for effortless playing: I should be able to only concentrate on my breathing while doing these drills. If I can’t, the metronome is too fast.

  • drill 1: vertical shifts at each position of CAGED, moving to the next CAGED set.
  • drill 2: horizontal shifts on each set of 3 strings
  • drill 3: “top note” triads: play as many triads as you can find with the root on the highest string of the triad; repeat with the third, then with the 5th.

These drills are dull if you concentrate on them, but if you’re playing effortlessly and concentrating on your breathing it won’t matter. Still, don’t overdo it. Just one or two of these a day is enough.

Do just one chord a day. Keep a list of the chords you’ve done in the practice log, and move to the next chord on the next day. Alternate major and minor, e.g. on day 1 do C, on day 2 Gm, etc … then at the end of the circle of 5ths, do Cm, then G major, etc. Do diminished at some point :-)

Part two: Actually using the triads

I’ve found that drills and chord scales are only useful as an introduction, and then when actually using them, everything falls apart. This drill makes you use them, at the pace you’re able to. It’s tough, but it feels useful, and it’s still musical!

Pick an actual tune that you want to play, and get its chord changes. Simplify everything to only major or minor (and for dim chords, use dim triads). For example, for “Out of Nowhere” (YouTube), the first few bars are:

| G6/9  | %  | Eb9 | Eb9 |
| G6/9  | %  | E9  | E9  |
| A-6/9 | E7 | A-  | A- |

but you’d simplify this to

| G  | % | Eb | Eb |
| G  | % | E  | E  |
| A- | E | A- | A- |

For the actual drill: set the metronome to a slow beat, say 60bpm, and play a different triad on each beat, following the changes. Play the triads however you want: shifting vertically, horizontally, whatever feels good. Here’s the tricky part: When the chords change, move to the closest triad you can find for the new chord, without breaking the beat, and continue with the triad changes.

For example, with the last G triad in bar 2, you might be playing this:

-----
--8--
--7--
--9--
-----
-----

The “closest” Eb triad you might move to could be this:

-----
--8--
--8--
--8--
-----
-----

Similarly, at the end of 2 bars of Eb triads, you might be using this one:

-----
-----
-----
--5--
--6--
--6--

and the closest G major triad for the next bar would be this:

-----
-----
-----
--5--
--5--
--7--

The concept of “moving to the closest triad” is basically simplified voice leading: you don’t want to jump madly around the fretboard to the next chord (e.g. from root position to root position).

Again, the key to this exercise:

If you can’t play shift these triads as quarter notes effortlessly, the metronome is too fast. Slow it down, keep breathing, and keep exploring.

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