Basic Music Theory: How to Read, Write, and Understand Written Music

28: Triads

Notice the little circle to the right of the vii. This symbol tells you the

chord is a diminished chord. I’ll show you why it’s diminished coming

up.

Example 28.2 Triads built upon the degrees of the C Major scale, with Roman numerals.

Major Triads

Major triads have a happy, bright sound quality.

A Major triad consists of a note a Major third above the root and

another note a Perfect fifth above the root.

In a Major key, there are three naturally occurring Major triads, those

built upon the first, fourth, and fifth degrees of the scale, or the I, IV, and

V chords.

Example 28.3 Breakdown of the Major triads in the key of C.

IiiiiiIVVviviio I

IiiiiiIVVviviio I

C Dmin Emin F G Amin Bo C

C Dmin Emin F G Amin Bo C

M3

min3 P5 M3

min3 P5

M3

min3 P5

I IV V

C F G