Stop Running Scales — Use Triad Pairs Like This

Looking for a better way to solo besides scales and arpeggios? Today we’re going to check out triad pairs and hexatonic scales in our improvised lines. 

So triad pairs, simply put, are two triads paired together to make a six note scale, or a hexatonic scale. 

Triads a whole step apart

Now, hexatonic scales don't have to be triad pairs. Hexatonics can be any six notes put together, but every triad pair is a hexatonic scale, so those two definitions can be used in either context. We're going to go over a couple different ways to practice them. We're going to talk about major triads, minor triads and different augmented triads to give you some interesting sounds to put on top of common progressions. 

Sequencing triads into a hexatonic scale

All the material that we're focusing on today comes from Ryan’s new resource with Jazz Lesson Videos called 31 Triad Pair Etudes. This resource dives deep into how to apply triad pairs over common harmonic progressions and common jazz standards that are called on almost every gig. We'll go from modal tunes to standard bebop tunes and everything in between. It covers major triads (a whole step apart and half step apart) being applied over standards, minor triads  (a whole step and half step apart over standards), tritones apart, minor thirds apart, augmented triads, and diminished triads, all put over these 31 standards. 

Today we're going to be checking out three of these etudes and dissecting where the triad pairs come in, and how Ryan likes to practice them, and how he got them into these etudes. If you want to follow along, you can also check out our accompanying YouTube video, Stop Running Scales – Use Triad Pairs Like This.

Contents

Using triad pairs

Major triads a tritone apart

Using triad pairs

Let's take a look at our first Etude and concept number one over a Bb blues.

As you can see throughout this Etude, we’re playing a lot of triadic concepts and lines starting in the first two measures. We’re playing a C major triad and then going to a Bb/Gm triad. And then we kind of developed that idea as it continues through the rest of the first phrase, playing some of those Coltrane false fingering while still thinking about the triads. 

As the etude continues into the second chorus, we play more of those two triads. We play C major triad again, and then the second triad is sort of an E diminished triad—D, Bb, E, and the G is ghosted.

Then we play an F major triad, but then we don't complete the E half diminished triad again, Bb, G, and then there would be an E there, but we let the measure rest. That's one of the cool concepts you can do with these triad pairs—you don't have to complete the triad pair idea. You can play three notes of the first triad and two notes of the second triad. 

Here's an example of some of these triad ideas where we don't complete all six notes. We’re playing kind of an incomplete odd number of notes in each phrase. We’ll take the C major triad and the Bb major triad and make a pattern that doesn't complete all six notes.

This is fun to improvise with—not completing your thoughts, almost disguising what the two triad pairs are. It's also cool to combine these triad pairs and make it feel more like a hexatonic linear scale. So if we take this:

And we play it in its linear order:

We’re only using those six notes, but it sounds like we’re playing a different scale, rather than those two triad pairs, just from the way we’re ordering the notes.

Throughout more of this etude, we start to shift different tonalities, like on the Gm to C7 phrase going to the IV, we play a G#m or Abm triad to an F# triad. Kind of a cool outside sound that resolves to our IV, F7.

You can use these for shifting smoothly inside and outside of the tonality. And again, we’re not playing a linear pattern, we’re playing two triads, kind of vertically together. When practicing this concept of these different triads together, like we do in this Etude, improvise with the six notes, thinking about them more as a scale, rather than a pair of triads. And remember you don't always have to complete the phrase. 

Major triads a tritone apart

Let's move on to concept number two. We’ll look at two major triads a tritone apart, and we’ll apply this over Oleo or Rhythm changes.

So right off the bat, you can see where these triad pairs of tritones apart are in the first phrase. We’re playing a C triad and an F# triad.

In this, we’re playing one triad, 1-3-5-3, and next triad, same thing. From there you can complete the phrase. You can play as many octaves as you want, too.

Another cool thing to do is take inversions off each triad—root, fifth, third, root, fifth, third. We can do this descending as well.

Now a great way for us to go further is shifting around and playing in different tonalities. In this case, we’ll play augmented triads with a chromatic approach in between.

So a C triad, chromatic cell…then E+, chromatic cell…G#+, chromatic cell…E+, chromatic cell. And you can do this with all your augmented triads, putting together stacked major thirds and adding a chromatic cell in between.

Looking at some more triad pairs linked together in augmented triads, then we play tritones apart again on A7.

We have those two pairs of tritones apart, A and Eb.

With these tritones apart you can do them in multiple ways, playing a specific pattern in those inversions, or playing them off the root, going up the horn, like we do in this etude. 

We paired the tritone aparts with the augmented scale, as they’re similar bright sounding triads. So playing those augmented triads with the chromatic approach, and the tritones apart had a similar sound. 

Alright that’s all for today, but if you want to learn more about this, you’ll want to check out Ryan’s resource with Jazz Lesson Videos, 31 Triad Pair Etudes! And if you want to hear how Ryan played through what we talked about today, make sure to check out our accompanying YouTube video “Stop Running Scales – Use Triad Pairs Like This.”We’ll see you next time!