The Triad Sudoku Workbook

As musicians, it’s essential to recognise the importance of understanding triads as the building blocks of Western harmony. A triad is a combination of three musical notes heard simultaneously as a chord or in succession as a single note melodic line. Commonly, triads are built in intervals of thirds (tertial), but they can also be heard both melodically and harmonically built with a combination of different intervals (non-tertial). For any student of the bass guitar, it is crucial to understand and navigate the various triadic shapes across the fretboard, as they have many uses in both bass lines and solos. Concepts such as Tertial Triad Pairs, Non-Tertial Triad Pairs, Upper Structure Triads, Diatonic Tertial Triads of any scale, Diatonic Non-Tertial Triads of any scale and Tri-Tonics all contain triadic shapes and patterns. Through my 40+ years of playing and teaching, I have come to understand that students may face challenges when studying new musical improvisation concepts such as Triad Pairs. They will often feel held back by a lack of familiarity with the different shapes, patterns and reference points from basic triads. This can result in a detour in their progression and even sometimes, giving up all together. This book will provide you with the functional building blocks necessary to understand and organise triadic shapes, both tertial and non-tertial, into a concise and coherent method for easier understanding and direct application to the music that you want to play. No matter what style of music you choose to play, understanding the “basics” is what will give you the keys to the kingdom of music!