Triad Pairs

A Basic Overview
By Miles Belvin

A simple technique to bring new sounds to your improvised solos is using Triad Pairs. At the bass level,
Triad Pairs assigns two major triads to every chord change or series of chord changes. We determine which
triads to use based on scale degrees of the chord using this simple diagram below.

Quality Function Scale Degrees Example

Major I or IV 1 and 2 (9) CMaj = C & D

Minor ii, iii, iv, i 3 and 4 (11) Dmin = F & G

Dominant V7, IV7, or I7 7 and 1 G7 = F & G

Half-Diminished ii7(b5) 5 and 6 Bmin7(b5) = F & G

Dominant 7 b9 V7(b9) or VI(b9) b9 and #9 E7(b9) = F & G

G7(#5#9) = C# & D#
Altered V7(#5#9 or VI(#5#9) #11 and #5
E7(#5#9) = A# & C

Note that with the exception of Major and Altered chords the above examples all share the same triad pairs.
This choice was intentional as all examples are relative to one another. To demonstrate this let’s look at a
ii-V-I in C Major.

| Dmin7 | G7 | CMaj7 | |
F & G ---------------------------------| C & D ---------------------------------|

By looking at either the quality or the function of the chords it’s easy to find which triad to use over which set
of changes. While we could use F & G major triads over the whole progression, the switch from F & G to C &
D is a much stronger to our ears and really makes the resolution from the V7 chord to the I chord “pop.”
Let’s look at a minor ii-V-i and see how we can play over that.

| Bmin7(b5) | E7(b9) | Amin7 | |

F & G -----------------------------------------------------| D & E --------------------------------------------|
or ​ ​F & G -----------------------| ​ ​ ​ ​A# & C ----------------| D & E --------------------------------------------|

While the first triad pair listing mirrors the ii-V-I in C the second one provides an extra set of triads to use over
the V chord using the “altered sound.” Using these triads over any functioning V chord will provide a lot of
tension and allow you to build more interest as you resolve to the next chord change.

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