Cycle of 4ths

This shows the Cycle of 4ths (1-4-7-3-6-2-5-1) played using our familiar 2-3-3 shape.

Now let’s wander this same Cycle of 4ths around the fretboard.

A “Diad” is 2 notes, as opposed to a “Triad” meaning 3 notes.

A Diad is also just an interval (between two pitches), but it can help to think of it as a small chord too! Here we add a 3rd to each note of the Cycle.

Let’s take those Diads (note + 3rd) and wander them around the fretboard.

A “Triad” meaning 3 notes is commonly considered to be stacked 3rds (i.e. C - E - G, D - F - A, E - G - B, etc.).

But you can also think of it as three pitches played together like C - F - G or C - D - G.

On the guitar, 3-note chords are pretty nimble and easy to move around.

Next we’re going to create some simple suspended sounds.

We’ll play our Cycle of 4ths, with our 3rds and 5ths like before. But this time we’ll hold on to the 5th on some of them

We’re going to add another set of simple suspensions, so that this exercise wraps around itself

Starting on 1 makes this set of numbers sound like a Major tonality.

But if we start on the 6 it sounds like a Minor tonality, but we need to make one small change to the 3…