Beginners | Have You Mastered These 48 Essential Triads Yet?

There are 48 essential triads every beginner must learn and master and we’re covering them in this lesson.

Getting started on the piano, one can be overwhelmed with lots of stuff to learn, especially when it has to do with chords and progressions.

Although it is important to learn and master as many chords as one can, there are essential triads that you must know as a beginner and you’ll learn them as we proceed in this lesson.

Attention: This lesson is written with beginners in mind, however, it can be beneficial to anyone who wants to know these 48 triads.

“Ever Heard About The Fantastic Four?”

If you’re familiar with the movie Fantastic Four then you’d probably be wondering what the movie has to do with our objective in this lesson. Well, there are four main triad types — major, minor, augmented, and diminished — and they are the fantastic four I’m talking about.

“Let Me Quickly Refresh Your Mind On These Triads…”

Major And Minor Triads

The major triad is a product of the first, third, and fifth tones of the natural major scale. In the key of C major:

…the first, third, and fifth tones (which are C, E, and G):

…when played/or together produces the C major triad.

The minor triad can be formed when the first, third, and fifth tones of the natural minor scale are played or heard together. Therefore, playing the first, third, and fifth tones of the C natural minor scale:

…which are C, Eb, and G:

…produces the C minor triad.

Augmented And Diminished Triads

Raising the fifth tone of the major triad produces an augmented triad. When the fifth tone of the C major triad:

…which is G:

…is raised by a half-step (to G#):

This produces the C augmented triad:

Lowering the fifth tone of any given minor triad produces a diminished triad. Lowering the  fifth tone of the C minor triad:

…which is G:

…by a half-step (to Gb):

…produces the C diminished triad:

12 Major Triads

Major triads can be formed on every note on the keyboard. Therefore, there are 12 major triads on the keyboard.

“Check them out…”

C major triad:

Db major triad:

D major triad:

Eb major triad

E major triad

F major triad:

Gb major triad

G major triad:

Ab major triad:

A major triad:

Bb major triad:

B major triad:

12 Minor Triads

Playing the first, third, and fifth tones of the natural minor scale together produces a minor triad. Every note on the piano has its unique minor triad, consequently, there are 12 minor triads on the keyboard.

“Check Them Out…”

C minor triad:

C# minor triad

D minor triad:

Eb minor triad

E minor triad

F minor triad:

F# minor triad

G minor triad:

G# minor triad:

A minor triad:

Bb minor triad:

B minor triad:

12 Augmented Triads

Raising the fifth tone of any given major triad forms a corresponding augmented triad. Therefore, 12 of the major triads we covered can produce 12 unique augmented triads.

“Here They Are…”

C augmented triad:

Db augmented triad

D augmented triad:

Eb augmented triad

E augmented triad

F augmented triad:

Gb augmented triad:

G augmented triad:

Ab augmented triad:

A augmented triad:

Bb augmented triad:

Cb augmented triad:

12 Diminished Triads

Diminished triads can be derived when the fifth tone of any of the minor triads is lowered by a half-step.  Altogether, there are 12 unique diminished triads.

“Check Them Out…”

C diminished triad:

C# diminished triad

D diminished triad:

D# diminished triad

E diminished triad

F diminished triad:

F# diminished triad

G diminished triad:

G# diminished triad:

A diminished triad:

A# diminished triad:

B diminished triad:

Final Words

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Chuku Onyemachi

Head of Education at HearandPlay Music Group

Onyemachi "Onye" Chuku is a Nigerian musicologist, pianist, and author. Inspired by his role model (Jermaine Griggs) who has become his mentor, what he started off as teaching musicians in his Aba-Nigeria neighborhood in April 2005 eventually morphed into an international career that has helped hundreds of thousands of musicians all around the world. Onye lives in Dubai and is currently the Head of Education at HearandPlay Music Group and the music consultant of the Gospel Music Training Center, all in California, USA.

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