The innocent triad

It seemed to me that triads are looked upon by many musicians as something we learn in basic theory. We forget about triads when we seek larger chords or exotic alterations. But let's give little triad a break.

If we remember way back when, just about every possible chord voicing can be broken down into a combination of triads, or even smaller diads. I don't know if that is even a term "diad", but my former guitar mentor Sid Jacobs would refer to the essential tones as that. I think even the great Ted Greene would sometimes term it as that. Anyway, triads are a great way to stay away from standard arpeggios for soloing or even when chording, and this applies to any genre of music.

This reminds me of a gig situation I was in a few years back, when I was hired to play at a function and the so called "music director" booked me on guitar along with 2 other guitarists. I thought to myself, `why not have more diversity of instruments like a piano or horn player, but I was a hired gun.' I knew from the opening song, that the other guitarists were trying to out do each other, showing off ideas. I thought, `I'll let these guys play all those fancy chords and I'll just resort to playing triads.' It worked so well. When I comped and soloed, I just used triad ideas. The other guitarists were speechless and surprised. A lot of times simplicity works best. Peace all!!!!