Major Triads, Closed Position: Guitar Chords Chart #1

This guitar chords chart shows fingerings for the Major Triad.
Major Triads are the first of the 3 diatonic triad types. A triad is a 3 part chord.

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All the Major Triads in the chords chart shown above are in closed position. This means that all three tones are within a single octave.

There are countless ways of playing open position Major Triads on the guitar fretboard, so they really aren't worth listing. It is best to simply understand the structure of the chords from these diagrams, and then explore all the other possibilities.

F Major Example:

F A C, (or 1 3 5), which is a Major Triad in closed position, with the Root in bass.
This same Major Triad can be played in any of 3 inversions, as shown in the guitar fingering chart above.

The numbers to the left of the 1st column of the Major Triad chord fingering boxes show the order in which the note functions show up. As you will notice that the 1st number is as follows, for each of the 3 rows:

This means that each inversion of the Major Triad uses the exact same tones. The only difference is that the lowest note changes from 1 to 3 to 5, with the corresponding re-arrangement of the voices above. Major Triad chord inversions are used for contrast, dramatic effect, and also to achieve smooth voice-leading (the way each of the parts flow from chord to chord).

Each row in the Major Triad chord chart shows you how to play a single chord inversion of the Major Triad, using a specific group of 3 contiguous strings.

The 4 columns each show the three possible inversions of the Major Triad chord, in order of appearance.

In the Major Triad guitar chords chart above, the strings are shown as follows (guitar head to the left of the screen):

You may find different musical editions designate Major Triads with different symbols. Here are a few, just so you don't get confused:

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Next: go to chord chart 2 (Minor Triads)

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