How to Improvise with Major Triads

Juampy Juarez shows how the humble major triad becomes a powerful device for improvising and composing. Because major triads exist inside every heptatonic scale we use in Western music — plus the symmetrical scales — you can mix them to build triadic lines that sound very different from scalar playing, an approach heard in players like John Coltrane, Joe Diorio, and Pat Metheny.

What's covered

• Whole-step triad pairs (F and G) drawn from the melodic minor scale, and why major triads work better for lines than minor, diminished, or augmented triads
• Moving a triadic pattern through inversions and positions across the neck, horizontally and vertically
• Mixing scalar lines with triadic lines over a static minor vamp
• Stacking three melodic minor scales over one minor chord (including Locrian natural 2 and Dorian flat 2 modes) and the major triads inside each
• Major triads from the diminished, harmonic, and augmented scales — covering all the scales used in Western music
• Two of Juampy's own blues compositions whose melodies are built entirely from major triads

By the end you'll be able to weave triadic melodies into your soloing for a more modern sound, with many new lines appearing in your sonic palette.