What are triad pairs?

Two triads played over one chord. You arpeggiate one, then the other, so the line carries the notes of both.

Which triad pair works over an A minor chord?

A minor and F minor, Daniel’s first example. Over A, the F minor triad brings F, Ab (the major 7) and C, which is shared.

Which triad pair works over C major 7?

Daniel names C and F sharp, a tritone apart. C is inside the chord; F# major adds the #11, a b7 (A# = Bb) and a b9 (C# = Db) against it (computed).

What are Lydian triad pairs?

Two major triads a whole step apart that both sit in a Lydian scale. In C Lydian, C major and D major hold C D E F# G A. The B is left out (computed).

Does a triad pair cover a whole scale?

No. Two triads hold six notes at most, and five when they share one. A minor and F minor share C, so they hold five.

Can triad pairs be used on the diminished scale?

Daniel says that on the diminished scale you can move in minor thirds. Over G7 with the half step, whole step scale, the major triads on G, Bb, Db and E all sit inside it (computed).

Triad Pairs on Guitar: From Two Triads to a Musical Line

By Daniel Weiss · Published June 9, 2022 · Updated October 5, 2026

Read in

A triad pair is two triads played over one chord. Pick the pair for the color it adds, then arpeggiate one triad and the other to make a line.

Daniel Weiss, from his YouTube lesson. He plays A minor with F minor, C with F sharp, and then moves triads on the diminished scale. The video loads only when you press play.

What a triad pair is: hear A minor and F minor

Daniel’s first pair is A minor and F minor, played over an A minor chord. Press play, then try the other two pairs.

A minor and F minor over A minor. Circles: A minor (A C E). Squares: F minor (F Ab C). A circle inside a square: C, in both triads. Frets 4 to 8 on the D, G, B and e strings. Computed from standard tuning.

A minor triad, circles: A (string 4, fret 7); C (string 3, fret 5); E (string 2, fret 5); A (string 1, fret 5); C (string 1, fret 8). F minor triad, squares: Ab (string 4, fret 6); C (string 3, fret 5); F (string 2, fret 6); Ab (string 1, fret 4); C (string 1, fret 8). Shared by both: C (a circle inside a square).

Play this. Over an A minor chord or an open A string, play the A minor arpeggio, then the F minor arpeggio, using the notes in the chart. Listen for the major 7 sound Daniel hears when the F minor triad arrives: it comes from the Ab.

The chart is computed from standard tuning. Circles are the first triad, squares the second, and a circle inside a square is a note both triads share.

The three pairs: every note, what they share, and how many different notes you get (computed)
Pair	Over	Notes	Shared	Count
A minor + F minor	A minor	A C E F Ab	C	5
C + F#	C major 7	C C# E F# G A#	none	6
C + D	C major 7	C D E F# G A	none	6

“Think about like two stations of harmony superimposed over one chord.”
Daniel Weiss, from the video above (2:25). Auto-captions, punctuation added, one “um” dropped.

Why a pair, when you have the pentatonic scale

Triad pairs are one more sound he reaches for “beside the pentatonic scale” (0:33). In his previous video the aim was the same:

“getting out of that kind of like the box”
Daniel Weiss, from the video above (0:53), about the methods in his previous video. Auto-captions, punctuation added.

With A minor pentatonic under your fingers, he adds A minor and F minor (1:12). The scale has A, C, D, E and G. The F minor triad brings two notes it lacks, F and Ab. The third note, C, is already there.

Choose the pair by what it adds

A minor and F minor, over A minor

The chord underneath is A minor. In his Spooky Triad Arpeggios lesson it is an A minor 9: “this nice A minor nine chord” (0:35).

Over A, the F minor triad spells b6, major 7 and b3. The Ab is the major 7, written G# in A minor.

“that’s cool because with F minor you get this major 7 sound”
Daniel Weiss, from the video above (1:15)

Together the two triads hold five notes: A C E F Ab. Not a seven-note scale.

One caution, computed: the Ab sits a half step above G, the 7th of an A minor 9 chord, so it rubs against that note. Over a plain A minor triad there is no G, so the rub disappears.

To get the same sound over another minor chord, keep the distance. Computed: the second minor triad’s root is a major 3rd below the chord’s root. Over D minor that is Bb minor, and the Bb minor triad’s Db (C#) is the major 7 of D.

In the other lesson he hears it this way: “we’re already getting this kind of like a haunted house vibe” (0:25).

C and F sharp, over C major 7

Next he moves to a major chord: “let’s take for example C major seven” (3:12). The pair is C and F sharp.

“C to F sharp is a tritone, superimposing it on the C major seven chord”
Daniel Weiss, from the video above (3:43)

He names the roots only. This page reads both as major triads, C E G and F# A# C#, as the original page did.

The C triad sits inside the chord. The F# triad is the outside color: against C it is the #11, a b7 (A# = Bb) and a b9 (C# = Db). The A# also sits a half step under the chord’s B.

His summary: “cooler sounds of out and in” (3:49). Six different notes, none shared.

C and D, the Lydian pair

Lydian triad pairs are a computed extra on this page, not a pair from the video above. The D major triad over C holds the 9, #11 and 13. With C E G it makes C D E F# G A: C Lydian without its B.

In his five secret chords lesson, in C Lydian, Daniel says you can play “a triad that is diatonic to Lydian” (0:56). That is the kind of triad D major is here.

Hear the full Lydian sound, and when it fits, on the Lydian lesson.

Each note against the chord underneath: A minor for the first pair, C major 7 for the others (computed)
Pair	Notes, with their place over the chord
A minor + F minor	A 1, C b3, E 5, F b6, Ab major 7
C + F#	C 1, E 3, G 5, F# #11, A# (= Bb) b7, C# (= Db) b9
C + D	C 1, E 3, G 5, D 9, F# #11, A 13

Count the notes before you trust a pair

Two triads hold six notes at most. If they share a note, five. No pair covers a seven-note scale.

Before you use a pair, check three things: the chord underneath, what each new note is against it (the table above), and the note you will land on.

Turn the pair into a line

Daniel’s order is simple: one triad, then the other.

“now you start arpeggiating them”
Daniel Weiss, from the video above (1:30)

At 1:49 he adds the nine to the arpeggio. He does not name the note, so this page leaves it out.

In his Spooky Triad Arpeggios lesson he plays the same pair over A minor and spells out the shape of the line:

“A minor arpeggio starting from the five and then coming back reversing that F minor triad”
Daniel Weiss, from his YouTube lesson “SPOOKY TRIAD ARPEGGIOS” (1:52). Auto-captions, punctuation added.

He comes “back at A” (3:41), back to A minor. The line below ends on the note A and follows that order. The notes and frets are computed, so it is not a transcription of what he plays.

The line: A minor up from the 5th, F minor back down, home on A. Numbers show the order. Circles: A minor notes. Squares: F minor notes. Frets 4 to 8 on the D, G, B and e strings. Notes and frets computed from standard tuning, not copied from a screen.

1: E (A minor), string 2, fret 5; 2: A (A minor), string 1, fret 5; 3: C (A minor), string 1, fret 8; 4: Ab (F minor), string 1, fret 4; 5: F (F minor), string 2, fret 6; 6: C (F minor), string 3, fret 5; 7: Ab (F minor), string 4, fret 6; 8: A (A minor), string 4, fret 7

e|---5--8--4--------------|
B|5-----------6-----------|
G|---------------5--------|
D|------------------6--7--|
A|------------------------|
E|------------------------|

The line as tab. Fret numbers computed from the notes, in the order Daniel describes.

Play this. Over an A minor chord or an open A string, play the tab slowly and evenly. Listen for the Ab at the end of the F minor part, and the half step up into A.

Download the printable chart (PDF) (opens in a new tab)

Land the line back on A

In the Spooky lesson his line comes back to A minor: “back at A” (3:41). This line does the same, a half step up from the Ab.

It is one choice, not a rule: in the first video he also plays A minor to F minor and stops there (3:05).

Moving triads on the diminished scale

His third example is over G7, with the half step, whole step scale (5:18).

“on the diminished scale you can move in minor thirds”
Daniel Weiss, from the video above (5:03)

Computed: that scale is G Ab Bb B Db D E F, and the major triads on G, Bb, Db and E all sit inside it. Those four roots are a minor third apart.

The scale has its own lesson: the diminished scale on guitar.

Practice it

Play the A minor arpeggio, then the F minor arpeggio, over an A minor chord. Listen for the Ab when you reach it.
Play the tab above, slowly, and land back on A each time.
Switch the chord to C major 7. Play C, then F sharp, and listen for the in, then the out.

Where to go next

Triads come first: learn your triads on every string set, and the major triads in particular.

To put triads inside a solo, go to how to use triads in guitar solos. The pentatonic scale he starts from is on the pentatonic scale lesson.

Frequently asked questions

What are triad pairs?: Two triads played over one chord. You arpeggiate one, then the other, so the line carries the notes of both.
Which triad pair works over an A minor chord?: A minor and F minor, Daniel’s first example. Over A, the F minor triad brings F, Ab (the major 7) and C, which is shared.
Which triad pair works over C major 7?: Daniel names C and F sharp, a tritone apart. C is inside the chord; F# major adds the #11, a b7 (A# = Bb) and a b9 (C# = Db) against it (computed).
What are Lydian triad pairs?: Two major triads a whole step apart that both sit in a Lydian scale. In C Lydian, C major and D major hold C D E F# G A. The B is left out (computed).
Does a triad pair cover a whole scale?: No. Two triads hold six notes at most, and five when they share one. A minor and F minor share C, so they hold five.
Can triad pairs be used on the diminished scale?: Daniel says that on the diminished scale you can move in minor thirds. Over G7 with the half step, whole step scale, the major triads on G, Bb, Db and E all sit inside it (computed).