How the guitar works: the Triad Map

A lot of times us jazz guitarists can play hip voicings of a Bb13, or Gmaj9#11, but when it comes down to harmonizing a simple triad we're at a loss.  Or maybe we can shred a rock solo in that one minor pentatonic position everyone knows... but that's the only place we're comfortable playing in.  Both scenarios lead to a frustrating feeling of limitation- we're confined to shapes because we don't understand the overarching logic behind the fretboard.

Triads are more important (and cooler- more on that later) than you may think.  A clear familiarity with the triad map, the basic structure of the fretboard, will serve as a solid foundation for anything you play.  Chords and scales.  Think of it as the skeleton that connects the fretboard into one thing.  Can you imagine how knowing this map well might open things up for you?

You'll need to know some prerequisite information before getting started.  If you know what a triad is (the first, 3rd and 5th notes of a scale stacked up on each other) and can play all your open position chords  (C, A, Am, G, E, Em, D, Dm... etc) then you're ready to start.

Here's a pictorial walk through of what I go through with my students.  All of my students, by the way.  Triads are the structural key to everything, so it doesn't matter if you play jazz, classical or metal.  It applies everywhere, so grab your axe and follow along!

 First, we'll establish some guidelines for finding the notes of the triad.  Here, you can see use a formula to find the 5th from the Root.

We find the 3rd from the Root as well.

From the 5th we found earlier, we find the next Root by going up one string.  Easy!  Keep going by following the guidelines....

Uh-oh.  When we get to that pesky B-string we have to compensate.  Not a big deal, just move one extra fret up when you find a note.  Here you can see the Root is moved up one extra fret from where we'd expect it to be from the guidelines.

Now what?  We've ran out of fretboard.  Keep going by transferring the note on the high E-string to the low E-string.  Now keep going with the guidelines...

Here's another example of compensating on the B-string!  Keep on truckin...

And here's another example of transferring from the high E-string to the low E-string.

Alright, we're all done.  The Root is back on the 6th string.  We can go back to open position now and fill in the notes behind where we started in third position.

Ta-da!

Now let's break this map down a bit.  Take a look at the five positions I've marked.  Can you see how they're the same shapes as the open position chords you already know?  That's the pattern of the guitar!  These five positions are the backbone to the five main pentatonic positions, major scale positions, and a ton of chords.  Knowing them up and down is imperative!

How do you practice becoming familiar with these patterns?  Here's three exercises in ascending order of difficulty to guide you in mastering these.  Do a little bit of this kind of work regularly and you'll start to see the fretboard as one giant possibility, instead of this:

Bonus:  For those of you who teach, here's a blank outline of the form I created for this lesson.  Filling the triad map out in real time with a student will help them learn the most, so use this template and fill in the notes, guidelines and exercises throughout the lesson.