Exploring Wide Interval Triads With Chord & Scale Patterns.

A wide interval triad is exactly as it sounds – a triad where the notes have been spread out to extend beyond a single octave. This gives simple triads an expansive and vibrant sound, making these chords exciting to explore and easy to create beautiful chord sequences with.

The approach is to take a note from a regular “close” triad shape (where the 3 notes are stacked in the closest proximity) and throw the middle note up an octave. By doing so you change the tonal quality of the chord to create a spacious sound that is unique to this type of harmony.

In this video we look at primarily root position shapes, which are quite approachable for the intermediate player due to their similarity to basic barre chord shapes. The shape will be familiar, and all you need to do is exclude some notes, picking out just the 3 notes that make up the triad.

We’ll take a look at these shapes through the chord family on 3 string sets, allowing you to apply them to chord progressions right away.

Then we’ll look at one of the inversion patterns and connect it back to one of the root position shapes we already looked at.

Finally we’ll look at an exercise that connects these shapes to the scale patterns that surround the chord tones. This is where you can move past just their harmonic function and get deep into some chord melodies or soloing ideas.

Overall this is a very interesting topic and I’ve had a lot of fun over the years playing around with these beautiful chords.

Thanks for your support,

Trent