Guitar Triads on the Top 3 Strings
Three shapes per chord, filed by the note on top
There are only three triad shapes per chord on strings 1, 2 and 3, and the only difference between them is which note ends up highest. That note is the one anybody listening hears as the tune, so this files them by the top note rather than the bass note — the same information from the end that matters. Nothing is wider than two frets and there are no barres.
Three notes, three strings, three arrangements
That is every arrangement there is, so there are three triad shapes per chord and no fourth one waiting. Here is C major as all three — the same three notes every time, C, E and G, with nothing added and nothing taken away.
They do not sound the same. The only thing that changed is which note is highest.
The solid black dot is the note on top. That is the only thing you are choosing.
The method is one sentence
Put the note you want on the top string, then put the shape underneath it. You are not working a chord out, you are picking a note and letting the shape follow — which means you need the notes of the high E string, so the book prints them.
The high E string, open to the 12th fret.
- Decide the chord.
- Decide which note you want on top: the root, the 3rd or the 5th.
- Find that note on the top string.
- Play the matching shape underneath it.
Minor is one note. In each shape exactly one dot drops a single fret and nothing else moves — a different dot each time, which is the only thing to learn.
C and C minor, root on top. One fret.
A twelve-bar blues that never moves
A blues in A, voiced so the top note is an A in every bar but one, where it dips to G# and comes straight back. Every shape sits between frets 4 and 7 — a whole chorus without your hand leaving one position.
A · D · A · E · D · A, from the free PDF.
That is voice leading, and it is not an advanced technique. It is a choice between three shapes, made once per chord. The book works seven progressions through twelve different ways, with every shape drawn.
What’s inside
Three C chords
Three voicings of the same chord, played before a word of theory. They do not sound the same.
The note you actually hear
Why the top note carries the sound, and why filing chords by their root is a naming convention rather than a method.
The three shapes
Every triad arrangement there is on strings 1, 2 and 3. None wider than two frets, no barres.
Putting them anywhere
The method in one sentence, plus the notes of the high E string so you can actually use it.
Minor is one note
One dot drops a fret. A different dot in each shape, which is the only thing to learn.
The trick
The same four chords with the root on top, then voiced so the top note barely moves. The difference is the whole book.
Three worked through
A held note across three chords, a descending line, and a twelve-bar blues that never leaves one position.
Settled, or going somewhere
Five effects with names attached, so you can reach for a sound instead of a shape.
Putting the tune on top
Voicing a chord so it supports the melody. The entry point to chord melody.
What you just did
Triad inversions, voice leading, common tones and cadences, named only now that you have done all of them.
All twelve keys
Every major and minor triad on the top three strings, 72 shapes, note on top marked.
Settled, or going somewhere
The same four chords twice. Nothing changes but which of the three shapes you reach for each time, and they do completely different jobs.
Settled
Going somewhere
Top notes C B C C, inside three frets · against E G A C, which costs ten.
The first barely moves and announces nothing — the one to put under a singer. The second climbs the whole way and sounds like it is heading somewhere. Neither is the right one. The book names five of these and the PDF draws every shape.
Who it’s for
Anyone past the first year who is bored of the same eight chords. You do not need to read music and you do not need any theory — the diagrams carry everything, and the terms only turn up in the last chapter.
Triad inversions, voice leading, common tones and cadences. None of those words appear until you have already spent twenty pages doing all of them, because a term is a label for something you can recognise, and most books hand you the label first and then wonder why people stall. If anybody has told you voice leading is advanced, they meant the vocabulary is.
Common questions
Which strings are the top 3 strings?
G, B and high E — strings 3, 2 and 1. They are called the top strings because they are highest in pitch, which catches people out, because they sit at the bottom of a chord diagram and nearest the floor when you hold the guitar.
What is a triad on the top 3 strings?
Three notes of a chord — root, 3rd and 5th — played one per string on G, B and high E. Three notes across three strings can only be stacked three ways, so every major and minor chord has exactly three of these shapes and no more.
Is this the same as triad inversions?
The same shapes, filed differently. Textbooks name inversions by the lowest note: root position, first inversion, second inversion. This names them by the highest note, because that is the one a listener hears. 5th on top is root position, root on top is first inversion, 3rd on top is second inversion.
Do I need to read music or know theory?
No. The diagrams carry everything, and the notes of the high E string are printed in the book so the method is self-contained. The theory terms appear in the last chapter, after you have been doing all of it for twenty pages.
Are the shapes movable?
All of them. Nothing is wider than two frets and there is no barre in the book, so you slide a shape until the top note is the one you want. All 72 shapes are also mapped out in twelve keys for when you want the answer rather than the working.
Three shapes. The only choice is which note is on top.
Chords from the Top
Three-note shapes only go so far. Sevenths, shell voicings, upper structures and slash chords, all filed by the note on top.
See the book →Chord Builder
Add intervals one at a time and watch the chord map itself across the fretboard, including which note ends up on top.
Open the tool →