Thank you and @MikeC . I feel like I’ve got a decent enough handle on the major / minor triads. The stacking thirds was throwing me off a little for some reason. I spent a week wroking through all of my intervals, which was about 4-5 days more than I felt that I needed but I wanted to make 100% sure I had those down pat because I knew they were going to be a major building block for what came after (like, how they relate to triads).
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The core concept of stacking thirds to create triads is a lightbulb moment in music theory, for sure.
Playing triads through the Cycle of Fourths is an applied level of learning that teaches how and where triads live on the fretboard, in every key.
The next level is learning the inversions of each flavor of triad as that emphasizes fingering major and minor intervals to play each type of triad. On bass, this also serves to unlock the fretboard
Each phase is an integral part of a tapestry of theory concepts brought to life with application and practice. And studying each brings the student more and more comfort and ability as a player.
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Damn, this answer is pure gold, concise and understandable and it finally makes sense to me too. Much kudos
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Ooo, I like this. This could be a fun warm up exercise for awhile. Helps to ingrain the triads and their shapes, as well as getting those notes down (beyond memorizing the notes on the dots). Not bad with them anymore but they can take me 2-3 seconds to work out, especially on the D and G string.
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Yep, it’s a great warmup, for a lot of reasons. It limbers up the hands and reinforces playing all over the neck.
To add to this learning mix, add saying each note name in a triad just before playing it.
Then, after getting comfortable with that, up the ante by singing each note of a triad, in major/minor/diminished. The time devoted to practicing this will yield great benefits. 
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why are chords built on ‘stacking thirds’ rather than simply playing ‘root, 3rd and 5th’ say of whatever a chord should be played. so there are 8 notes inc the octave in a scale, why are we calling them stacked thirds rather than ‘playing 1, 3, 5’ of a particular major or minor chord?
and whats the relevance of a augmented or diminished triad?
im thinking of nashville numbers, a guitarist saying this ones in the key of D with a chord progression of I, V, VI say, and me needing to know whether thats major or minor and playing the relevant triad. when would i ever need to know or play an augmented or diminished triad?
im aiming for that lightbulb moment myself but not there yet as you can tell 
thanks
EDIT: oh and also why is an interval of 1 semitone a minor 2nd? 2 semitones is a major 2nd of course, but the minor scale also has the 2nd two semitones away.
These are saying the same thing. The major and minor thirds are intervals in this case. A major third interval is four semitones; a minor third interval is three semitones. A perfect fifth (same for major or minor scales) is seven semitones.
The “1, 3, and 5” scale positions for the major scale is root + 4 semitones higher (major third) + 3 more semitones to get to the fifth, or another minor third interval.
The “1, 3, and 5” scale positions for the natural minor scale is root + 3 semitones higher (minor third) + 4 more semitones to get to the fifth, or another major third interval.
They sound different and have different uses 
The “minor” in this case is referring again to the interval and not the scale. A minor second interval is a semitone, correct. The natural minor scale starts with a major second interval.
It’s basically an overloading of the term “minor”.
If you want a really odd theoretical construct, a diminished second is… 0 semitones.
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To briefly expand on Howard’s explanation: if you are looking at the relationship between any flavor of C with any flavor of D, it is always a second of some kind. (Likewise any relationship between any flavor of C with any flavor of E is always a third of some kind; and so on…)
E.g., C-D# is an augmented second. (If we write it as C-Eb (which sounds exactly the same), it is a minor third.)
And for Howard’s weird case: if you had an interval of C-Dbb, then, yes, this would have to be called a diminished second (and, yes, very much a theoretical construct!)
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Now do augmented 4th and diminished 5th.
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They’re actually very common; not odd at all 
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ah good, so i suppose its then a case of how i want to picture it in my mind….
so if i know the guitarist is playing C (default is major) then my notes can be C, E and/or G.
if the guitarist is playing C minor, i know my notes can be C, Eb or G. and it has to be Eb rather than D# as it has to be an E of some sort. nice one, im a little bit further down the line.
i guess its easier for me to work out the notes from a scale pattern rather than the ‘stacked thirds’ method where i have to work out “right, the first third needs to be a major third which is 4 semitones from my root. ah thats an E. now…. a major triad is a major third and a minor third, lets see. so thats 3 semitones from E which is a G”. waaaaay to complicated for me, so i just need to stick to scale patterns and know where the note is rather than its name (which would hopefully come in time).
so is this a typo? isnt the 1, 3 and 5 for major scale, 4 semitones plus 3, not 4?
i do hope so
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oops yes, sorry
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So the interesting thing is… you can learn to move around the fretboard in thirds and always land on a chord tone
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although youd have to remember whether to move about in minor or major thirds no? as theyre different patterns? so do a 1, 3, 5 of a major chord, great, thats a major third then a minor third, but then i wouldnt know whether to keep moving in ‘3 semitones’ or ‘4 semitones’ to keep within the right notes no?
or do you mean just keep going 4/3/4/3/4/3 and itll always be on a major chord tone?
No, I mean you always land on a chord tone, and the interval you select determines the chord.
i.e. In C, going up a minor third from G gets you Bb, which gives you C7 for the dominant seventh chord; going up a major third gives B for Cmaj7.
You can walk all around that way and all you really need is to remember where you currently are in the scale.
It’s a different usage than memorizing notes, which is also important.
i mentioned earlier that this chat has gained me a little more knowledge thank you. sadly Cmaj7 and the like is still a foreign language to me
EDIT: i could start by asking whats the difference between C7 and Cmaj7 but i still dont think id understand
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@sadexpunk I just started the Groove Trainer course at TalkingBass and Mark dives into all of this. I’m finally starting to understand it after watching several times. Something to look into; would definitely recommend the course.
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This^^^ 
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When you take the triad and stack yet another third on top, this is when you get the “seventh” chords. And there are again several possible combinations.
Cmaj7 is a C major triad with a major 7th: C - E - G - B (in terms of stacked thirds: major, minor, major)
C7 is also called C dominant 7 is a C major triad with a minor 7th on top: C - E - G - Bb (in terms of thirds: major - minor - minor)
And let’s just leave it there for now; but you can probably guess other possible combinations yourself, which all make different seventh chords 
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@sadexpunk I just started the Groove Trainer course at TalkingBass and Mark dives into all of this. I’m finally starting to understand it after watching several times. Something to look into; would definitely recommend the course.
This^^^
spookily ive paid for this course already, and completed module 1 and am now onto the grooves themselves. i was actually thinking of asking for a refund as it just didnt seem to give me what i wanted, the ‘next stage’ from B2B where i can start working out grooves for myself if the guitarist called out a particular chord say.
module 1 seemed to be a cross of what i’d already learned here in B2B, or, complicated theory that i thought was above me, and not really useful for coming up with my own rhythms and patterns. i guess that ‘complicated theory’ is what we’re chatting about here 
so yes, id like to get my head around all of this eventually, but my main focus would be coming up with patterns up and down the fretboard which im not discovering on this course (so far).
ive done a few of the module 2 grooves, but not many yet, and im just not sure the course is what i thought it was, and was thinking of maybe getting a refund and looking at ‘the creative bassist’ course instead.
i guess you would disagree?
thanks
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