Every Triad chord EXPLAINED

Triads are the most essential chord types in music but their definition can be disputed. Is a triad just any three note chord? Or does it also have to have been made by stacking major and minor thirds? Well, as far as I can see there are ten unique types of triad chord we can have and in this video I will be explaining all of them!

And, an extra special thanks goes to Peter Keller, Douglas Lind, Vidad Flowers, Ivan Pang, Waylon Fairbanks, Jon Dye, Austin Russell, Christopher Ryan, Toot & Paul Peijzel, the channel’s Patreon saints! 😇

0:00 Introduction
0:31 Major
1:04 Minor
1:27 Diminished
2:03 Augmented
2:30 what defines a triad chord?
4:19 Suspended
6:18 Modal
10:05 Major flat 5
11:05 Why not these chords too?
14:25 Quartal harmony
16:05 using every triad in a song

[keithlillis]

David, apart from really knowing his stuff, explains it so well. He is such a natural teacher and had really helped me understand music theory - Many thanks David.

[avizmaldesigns]

If you're a beginner, the thing you need to memorize is that "diminished" and "augmented" refer to the 5th of the chord, and "suspended" refers to the 3th of the chord. And that's like 70% of all songs in existence 😅 then you add more notes (7th, 9th, etc) to those triads, and you win at music

[realcygnus]

Plus that C quartal is just an inversion of Fsus4 which is itself also an inversion of Bbsus2 etc. But such commonalities & a need for conventions really arises with 4 or more note chords.

[TigerRogers]

David, best definition of triads i have ever seen!!

[alrush]

You are such a great teacher. You explain things so well even a new 70 year old piano student can follow and understand it. Now let's see if I can apply it!! lol. Thanks for your vids. My favourite on you tube piano lessons.

[Stephen_Lafferty]

Another great academic discussion and useful for including Quartal harmony, too. Thank you again, David!

[angelusuxorem]

C quartal can be also be inverted as F sus4 or Bb sus2. 14:31

[aldeayeah]

The Locrian and Lydian triads are also inversions of each other. For example, you can build both F(lyd) and B(loc) with the same notes F B C. Or a Cmaj7sus4(no5) :P

The quartal triad also appears when you invert sus chords. With C F G you can have Csus4 or Fsus2 or G(quartal)

[delgadopacheco.gabriel]

I'm going to assume that you listen to this very often but you have a gift to explain in a very clear and simple way topics that are complex. Excellent video. Your content has helped me a lot to understand music theory.

[SongSecretsMomNeverTaughtYou]

Regarding the quartal chords, I'd love to see a video on pop songs that use them! I know of Joni Mitchell's first album that uses a lot quartal and quintal harmony especially on the song "Dawntreader"

[GreenLightFlight]

Wow! I think this is the clearest my head has ever been after putting together so much. Easily followed every point you made. I apparently use chords often, but now understand why they are called sus and why leveraging them the way I did worked. Thanks!

[RobyMBeki]

10:05, you can hear the C(b5) as the second chord of the chorus in my song "The Last Tree" for any music 'nerds' interested. ❤

[LuisSantos-nfrs]

I believe quartal chords can fit into the tertiary system, all you have to do is invert them the way you did earlier in the video - in your example, a C quartal could alternatively be a Fsus4 or a Bbsus2 :)

[TuneTemptation]

During Last part in which all the chords were played, I was shocked man🤯that those chords could sound like that🤯...my favorite part of the video ❤

[somebodyrandm]

I watch all your vids for fun even though I’m a music theory expert and know almost everything😊. Thanks David.

[Chigger]

It's so interesting how the naming conventions of chords makes the whole thing much simpler and much more convoluted.

[SuperEgo]

Best music channel neck and neck with Beato on the Tube.

[uwira]

Regarding 15:20.
Inversions can be used to express quartal harmony in terms of tertiary harmony:
C (quartal) = F(sus4)/C = Bb(sus2)/C.
Or with another perfect fourth on top: F7(sus4)/C = Bb(sus2, sus4)/C.
And another one: Fm7(add4)/C = Bb7(sus2, sus4)/C.

[Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaapj]

13:50 that is a C2(omit5) and 14:30 that is the first inversion of a Bbsus2

[nedesp]

That was SO helpful! Always get stuck with this stuff, the naming, why it is like that. You made it perfectly clear, as always. Where musical brilliance and teaching skills come together.... Thanks David.