A major triad consists of the root, 3rd, and 5th. Since the 7th is left out a major triad can be used on dominant chords as well. There are six possible permutations of those three notes as listed in the table below. Three of the permutations place the notes on adjacent strings, the other three place the notes on every second string.
Voicing | 1-3-5 | 3-5-1 | 5-1-3 | 1-5-3 | 3-1-5 | 5-3-1 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fretboard Diagram |
If we add the 7th, and allow other extensions as well, the number of combinations is huge. Below are some selected examples of major chord voicings (listen to the chords in mp3 format).
Chord Name | Cmaj7 | Cmaj7 | Cmaj7 | Cmaj7 | Cmaj9 | Cmaj9 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Voicing | 1-3-5-7 | 1-5-7-3 | 1-7-3-5 | 5-7-1-3 | 1-9-5-7 | 1-5-7-9 |
Fretboard Diagram |
Chord Name | Cmaj9 | Cmaj9 | Cmaj13 | Cmaj69 | Cmaj6 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Voicing | 1-7-9-5 | 1-9-5-7 | 1-3-6-9-7 | 1-5-6-9 | 1-6-7-3 |
Fretboard Diagram |