SPREAD TRIADS
Patrik Tammelin
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©2025PatrikTammelin
Illustration: Patrik Tammelin
Proofreading:David Kaye
Publisher:BoD ·Books on Demand,Östermalmstorg1,114 42 Stockholm, Sverige, bod@bod.se
Print: LibriPlureos GmbH,Friedensallee273,22763 Hamburg, Tyskland
ISBN:978-91-8097-072-3
SpecialThanks
ThankstoHåkan Järvå,who gave me theideaand thebeliefthat writinga book is actually possible, and whohelpedmewithmost of thepractical aspects of putting it together
Thanks to my dear friend DavidKaye,who excels at everything he does With hislanguage skills,deepknowledge of music, and hisbig heart, he’s been theperfect proofreader
AndthankstomywifeKarin,who believesthat nerdinessis somethingtobeproud of and embrace. Your nerd forever.
AboutThisBook
Thank youfor purchasing this book!I hope it will provideyou with plentyofinspiration and value.
This book contains many examples.Try to play through allofthem— take your time to really listen to how they sound, andlet your fingersget used to thegrips and movementsthey require.Bydoing this, your ears and fingerswill memorize thematerialinsuchaway that,bythe time youreachthe end of the book,theseconceptswillhopefully havebecomea naturalpartofyourmusical vocabulary.
Some examples aremorelikesetsofvariations rather than complete musicalphrases.Think of them as akindofreferencefor future use. Others aredesigned to be more musicalinnatureand aremeant to be played in sequence, helping youunderstand thesystemsinamusical context.
This book, and theconceptsitpresents, canserve as toolstosupport your musicianship. It'simportant to know whichtooltouse fora giventask. Letyourearsand your musicalsensibility guide youinchoosing when and how to usethem.
Take allthese examples with apinch of salt and carryforward onlywhatfeels meaningful to you. The main purposeofthisbook is to open possibilitiesand sparkyourown creativityand musicalexpression.
Forme, musictheoryand theprocess of systematizingmusical ideas have always added newcolorsto my palette as amusician. Ihopethese systemsand conceptswill have asimilarimpactonyou.
WhyTriads?
Whywrite abookspecificallyabout triads?Triadscan oftenseemoverlysimple— and becauseofthat, they’reeasytooverlook. Butthe truthis, they’rethe foundationofvirtually allharmony.Theyappear within even themostcomplex chords,often layeredseveral at atime. Andbecausethey’resofundamentaltoharmony,theyalsocarry alot of strength.Triads speaka clear musicallanguage; they’reexpressive and grounded in theirsimplicity.
Forguitarists, triads areessential. They show up in everything —fromcampfiresongs,tofinding your placeinanensemble, to breakingdowncomplex chordvoicingsonaninstrumentwithnatural limitations likethe guitar. In solo playing, they’reusedtooutlineharmony or to play "out"and createdissonance.
I’ve chosen to focusonspreadtriads because Isee them as an often-overlooked goldminefor guitarists —not just in arranging and composition, butinsoloing as well.Spreadtriads canmakethe simplest chordprogression sound likea baroque pieceora modernindiepop hook
So,asmusicians,and guitaristsinparticular, they deserveour attention, or at theveryleast thecuriosity to seewhatthey mightofferus.
1. Triads
In this chapter,we’ll go over some basic musictheoryrelated to triads andintroduce theconcept of spread triads.You don’tneedtofully understandthismaterialtobenefit from therestofthe book,but it might helpprovide some useful context.
What Is aTriad?
Atriad is achordmade up of threenotes played together.Mostcommonly, thesenotes arebuilt in thirds, meaning youstack everyother note from ascale.Eachnoteinthe triadisgiven anumber basedonits distancefromthe root
That’s whythe notesinatriad arereferredtoasthe root,third,and fifth— or simply: 1, 3, and5
Thereare afew commontriad types, whichare formed by raisingorloweringthe 3rdand/or5th.Here areafew examples:
Major: 1– 3– 5
Minor: 1– ♭3–5
Diminished: 1– ♭3– ♭5
Augmented: 1– 3– ♯5
The diminished triad oftenfunctions as theupper voicetoadominant chordamajor third below.Inthat context, it contains the3rd,5th,and ♭7ofthe dominant chord.
As an example, Bdiminished (b–d–f)iscommonlyusedasa G7 chord(g–b–d–f)without theroot. It creates nearlythe same tensionasa G7 and naturally wantstoresolve to Cmajor
Closed andSpreadTriads
Atriad canbearranged in twodifferent ways.The notes caneitherbeplacedasclose together as possible, this is called closed position.See image:
Or youcan raiseorlower themiddlenotebyanoctave, creatingmorespacebetween thenotes.Thisis calledaspreadtriad.See image:
Both closed and spread triads havetheirfunction in musicalcontexts, butI have chosen to focuson spread triads in this book as they have amoreopen character. They canbeverybeautiful forbothsolo arrangementsand forsmaller or larger ensembles
Inversions
If adifferent chordtone is placed in thebassinstead of theroot,the chordissaidtobeinan inversion.If achordhas threenotes,thereisa root position, wherethe root is thelowestnote, and twoinversions, wherethe thirdorthe fifthisthe lowest note.Theseinversions canalsobemade in spread positions The numbersinthe dotsindicatethe intervalswithinthe chord.
Seeimages:
Sincethe guitar is such acomplex instrument,where thesamenotecan be foundinthe same octave in multiple locations,there aremanyalternative shapes foreachspreadtriad.Thesetwo shapes sound the same,but themiddlenoteismoved to thenextstring.
Some of theseshapes becomedifficult or impossibletoreach, and some arenot necessarily very useful in amusical context, forexample:
Ihavechosen nottoinclude them in this book.However,below is an exampleofwhatcan be done with more usableshapes
Notice that thetop note in each shapeisperceived as amelody.The melodicnoteisoften themain reason whyI choose oneshape over another.I trytocreateamelody out of thechords. Play them from left to right and leteachchordringout forhalfa bar:
