The minor triad as a II chord

Understanding Minor Triads in Major Keys

Now, of course, you find minor triads in minor tunes, but that's not the only place that you might come across them. In fact, in any major key, you've got several minor triads right there.

Example in C Major

For instance, in C major (all white notes):

• The D minor triad is found on the second note (the ii chord).
• On the third note, we have the E minor triad (the iii chord).
• The fourth and fifth chords are major.

Here comes another minor triad on vi:

• This one isn't minor because it would need to have an F# in.
• That one would be called B diminished.

So remember:

• ii, iii, and vi (all white notes) are present as minor triads in the major scale.

Focusing on the Two Chord

Now we're going to mainly focus on the ii chord. So, in the key of F, for instance:

• G minor is a really important chord (i and ii).

Practice Routine

Here's a little routine that almost plays a whole scale harmonized as triads using just those two chords. Try it for yourself!

• I'm going to start down here.
• You can get quite fluent at that, producing a really nice sound using those two chords and all their inversions.

In fact, we've almost played the whole scale. Apart from the fact that there isn't an E in either of those triads, we've covered six out of the seven notes in the scale.

Example: Manenberg

You're going to hear this sound again in the next tune, which is Manenberg by the South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim.

This is an example of what you might call township jazz, which typically features:

• Major harmonies
• The use of the ii chords, sometimes with the V in the bass.

Rather than thinking of that as a C chord, it's a G minor with a C bass. That's a very common sound in that kind of music.