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Posted By: doogiet Help learning guitar triads? - 03/05/16 03:06 PM
Hey, all. I'm a relatively new guitar player and I'm trying to learn to play triads (just the majors for now). I've been at it for months and I'm getting discouraged because I don't seem to be making much progress. I have a teacher and he tells me not just to memorize shapes, so every time I try to play a triad I make sure that the notes I'm playing are right (CEG for starters). But it seems that every time I do this I have to recalculate what the notes are.

On the piano I can bang out any inversion of any triad, probably because I've been playing for years. But on the guitar it takes me forever to find the notes. I have the fretboard memorized on at least a superficial level: I can find any note on any string pretty much on the first try, but when I try playing triads everything goes to hell.

I'm wondering if there's some fundamental knowledge that I'm missing, like they're all based off one of the lower strings like a barre chord, or if there's some pattern I'm just missing? It can't be this hard can it? frown

doug
Posted By: MarioD Re: Help learning guitar triads? - 03/05/16 04:52 PM
Take a look at the caged guitar method:

http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/19390-7-the-guitarists-guide-to-the-caged-system

http://guitaristsource.com/lessons/CAGED.shtml

There are a lot more info, just google/bing caged guitar method.

Since you are learning the notes on the guitar neck using this method should help you with those triads. Although it is shapes it will be beneficial as guitar is an instrument of shapes. I think what your teacher was referring too was don't just learn guitar fingerings, learn the notes under those fingers.
Posted By: doogiet Re: Help learning guitar triads? - 03/15/16 08:56 PM
Thanks for this. I've heard of the system but never knew what it meant. I think my issue is that I have to learn the shapes AS WELL as the notes under them. If I just learn the notes I'll forever be recalculating chords in my brain and never get anywhere.
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