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The major triad
One more look at what you missed.
Hear C, E and G together.
This is the triad you stacked on C. Listen to how bright and settled it sounds.
No sound? Check your volume, and that your phone is not on silent.
From C to E is four semitones: a major third.
You met it in the intervals unit. From C to G is seven semitones: a perfect fifth.
Root, major third, perfect fifth: a major triad.
Count from the root: four semitones up for the third, then three more for the fifth. Black keys count too.
How many semitones from root to third in a major triad?
The recipe works on any root.
On D, four semitones up lands on F♯, not F. Skipping letters gives you the letters; counting semitones tells you if one needs a sharp or a flat.
C major, then D major.
Same recipe, same bright sound, one whole step higher.
Which notes make G major?
Find D, F♯ and A.
Count four semitones up from D, black keys included, to land on F♯. Three more is A.
Find the root, count four semitones up, then three more. Keep the root as the lowest note.
You can build a major triad.
What you learned
- A major triad is a root, a major third and a perfect fifth.
- Count four semitones from the root, then three more.
- The same recipe builds a major chord on any of the twelve notes.
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