The fingerings of the triads
After having seen how triads are built, you need to become more confident with the fingerings.
If you performed the proposed exercises on the construction of the triads, you should now be able to try the most interesting part, which is to put into practice the concepts seen in the previous pages.
The triad, being a group of three notes, is always developed on three strings, positioning the three degrees vertically one per string. This is the standard fingering, even if in some cases the triads are built horizontally on two strings (this is something that we will see later). As we have seen, there are four triad models, but the ones that we will use for now are the fingerings for the major, minor and diminished triads. We will bring these fingerings to the fretboard using groups of three strings at a time harmonizing a major scale horizontally, different for every group of strings.
The harmonization of a scale, whose rules can be seen in the harmonization of the scales section, allows the construction of a series of chords that are connected to each other in the same scale. These chords can therefore have a precise role in creating the arrangements necessary for a song, but also in the choice of the notes
during the playing of a melodic line.
We begin with the harmonization of the C major scale in the 1st position.
As you can see, the triads are developed on three strings, and in the 1st position this also includes the use of open strings. Be careful of the Dm triads, that are played in the 2nd position, the G (3rd position) and finally the C (an octave above, 3rd position). The other triads are in the 1st position. To build confidence with the use of these fingerings, play the following exercises. Pay attention to the run-time, play very slow and with a homogeneous distance between one chord and the next. The picking is in beat.
In the following exercise, we play the single notes of the triad, both ascending and descending.
Try various techniques with your right hand, both with the pick and with the fingers, using the following scheme.
- ascending: 
- descending:
- ascending: p i m
- descending: m i p
Perform these two exercises numerous times, always at a slow speed. Besides memorizing the fingerings, try to 'feel' the sound, especially in the intervals between 1° and 3°
of the triads, to get used to the difference between the major and the minor modes. Another important factor in the execution is to balance the dynamics of the sound between the various notes within the triad.
This is obtained with good pressure control of the pick (or fingers) on the strings. The response that each string gives to the right hand, varies according to the size of the strings. Consequently, a constant pressure on all the strings generally emphasizes the bass strings (bigger) more than the high ones (thinner).
This could seem like something very picky, but later you will realize how important it is to regulate the pressure according to the required sound.
In the next page, we will analyze the fingerings in various scales over the entire fretboard.
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