Trichord Pairs — A Scientific Approach to
Melodic and Harmonic Mastery

This course covers a specific group of trichord pairs (also known as triad pairs) that
get used often when improvising. They are very useful as chords and melodic
replacements for the modes of major and melodic minor ascending. This course lists all
the possible 027-016 and 027-026 trichord pair combinations. What that means is you
have easy-to-play structures that will sound super modern but are also very harmonious
in any musical situation. These aren’t abstract strange sounds — they are core
structures used when playing a jazz standard or even rock, metal, and blues.

You also don’t need knowledge of pitch class sets or other special music theory
constructs. You just have a very useful sound laid out for you either as a scale, two triad
pairs, or awesome sequences that give you head-turning attention when you play them!
But if you do want to dig deeper there is an Appendix that covers in-depth the music
theory concepts found in this book. That material is from the Sonic Resource
Guide, a go-to reference used often.

Why a whole step and fifth (027) matched against either a half step and a tritone
(016) or a whole step and tritone (026)? The 027 is often used as a fourth voicing, and
melodies moving in fourths or dominant chords are often voiced with an 016 or 026 in
the upper three notes. So these combinations play sounds that aren’t going to upset
more conservative musicians, but moving between them creates a pretty unique sound
that tends to land well with most listeners. These combinations are also not difficult to
play, voice-lead well, and are easier to get into your playing fast — as opposed to
012, 013, 014, and similar sets, which are awesome sounds but take a while to get used
to.

For as long as musicians have had scales, most reach for the same handful of them
over every mode of major and melodic minor — and the same handful of chords
underneath. Trichord Pairs identifies something more specific: the exact
combinations of a 027 trichord matched against a 026 or 016 trichord that sound
genuinely striking as replacements for that default vocabulary, worked out
independently for every mode of both scales, in every key.

Naming the harmony is the easy part. This book pairs that system
with the mental practice method, physical technique, and rhythmic tool you need to
actually get it into your ear and your hands — without the repetitive-strain grind
that ends so many promising technical projects.

What This System Gives You:

• Every Valid Combination, Both Scales: All 28 valid 027-016
  combinations across the seven modes of major, and all 42 valid 027-026 combinations
  across the seven modes of melodic minor ascending — each independently
  verified, not just relabeled from mode to mode.
• A Synopsis of the Mental Practice Method:
  Build a stable virtual instrument, fire the same motor pathways as live performance
  below the threshold of movement, and use the ten minutes before sleep to hardwire a
  combination into permanent memory.
• Long Line Rhythm™ Applied Directly: The macro-pulse, anchor-point method that keeps an eighteen-bar sequence or
  a two-octave scale run from turning into a note-by-note grind. Read about the MetroDrone and Long Line Rhythm for more
  information.
• Technique That Won’t Cost You Your Hands: The Home
  Base principle, forearm-driven mechanics, and the specific hand position that lets you
  practice this material for years without injury. See the Guitar Physiology
  and Technique Course for the full treatment with video.
• Full PDF and MIDI Practice Files: Every combination,
  voiced eighteen ways, run through all twelve keys — plus a two-octave
  ascending-and-descending scale run for every combination, ready to read and to
  hear.

Table of Contents for Trichord Pairs:

1. Front Matter: Acknowledgments, About the Author,
   Foreword, Preface: How to Use This Book.
2. Chapter 1: Introduction — What Are Trichord Pairs?
3. Chapter 2: Mental Practice
   • The Virtual Instrument: Building the Internal Map.
   • Sub-Threshold Motor Firing and the Both-Hands Rule.
   • Cognitive Endurance: Managing Mental Fatigue.
   • Aural Proofing: The Key Center Prerequisite.
   • The Pre-Sleep Routine and Neurological Consolidation.
4. Chapter 3: Technique and Physiology
   • Home Base — The Core Principle.
   • Let the Big Muscles Do the Heavy Lifting.
   • The Middle Radius Constraint.
   • Left Hand Basics; Right Hand and Picking.
   • No Pain Is Gain.
5. Chapter 4: Long Line Rhythm
   • Locating the Anchor Points.
   • Building Tiers.
   • Applying This to the Trichord Pair Material.
6. Chapter 5: The Trichord Pairs System
   • Understanding the Trichords; How These Combinations Were
     Found.
   • Melodic Minor — 027-026 Combinations (All 7 Modes).
   • Major — 027-016 Combinations (All 7 Modes).
7. Chapter 6: Practice Materials and Application
   • What’s Included with This Book.
   • How to Practice; Practicing as Chords.
   • Frequently Asked Questions.
8. Chapter 7: Troubleshooting, Context, and Consistency
9. Conclusion
10. Appendix A: The Muse Eek Ear Training Curriculum
11. Appendix B: Pitch Class Sets, Chord Tones, and Available
    Tensions

Examples of Exercises Found in Trichord Pairs

There are three types of files found in this course: hexatonic scales played
ascending and descending through 2 octaves, a simple listing of the trichord pairs in
every key center for quick lookup, and 18 permutations of each trichord pair through all
12 keys — with MIDI files for all of these exercises so you can check your
accuracy.

This first example shows a Lydian scale (minus the 7th) played two octaves
ascending and descending. Guitarists should play these scales in all 6 positions.

• 
• Slow Tempo:
• Faster Tempo:

The example below shows the 4 trichord pairs using 027-016 that can be used for a
Locrian scale.

• 
• Trumpet Example:
• Rock Guitar Example:

The example below shows a trichord sequencing pattern using a Phrygian scale. 18
different patterns are presented for every trichord pair combination!

• 
• Piano Example:
• Rock Guitar Example:

ISBN: 978-1-59489-297-4

Trichord Pairs 2 — Harmonic Minor,
Harmonic Major, and the Symmetric Scales

Trichord Pairs covered major and melodic minor ascending —
the two scales where the 027-016 and 027-026 pairing system produces the richest set
of combinations, four to six per mode. Trichord Pairs 2 takes the same
method into different territory: harmonic minor, harmonic major, and the three symmetric
scales, where the underlying interval structure changes the math entirely.

Harmonic minor and harmonic major both contain an augmented second —
and that interval narrows the valid 027-026 pairing down to exactly one combination per
mode, rather than several. This book includes both of harmonic minor’s most commonly
used modes (the tonic harmonic minor sound, and the fifth mode’s Phrygian Dominant
— the classic altered-V7 sound), and all seven modes of harmonic major.

The symmetric scales — Whole-Half Diminished, Half-Whole Diminished,
and Whole Tone — work differently again. These scales repeat their own interval
pattern around the octave, so there’s no single 027 trichord anchoring every
combination the way there is in major or melodic minor. Instead, every combination in
this section pairs two 026 trichords against each other, and because the diminished
scales are eight notes rather than seven or six, there’s substantially more valid
combinations to work through — sixteen each for the two diminished scales, six
for whole tone, where every note of the scale is used with nothing left over.

Beyond the reference charts, this edition adds two new practice formats built for
taking a single trichord to the instrument. Sweeps takes each individual
trichord in the book through its three inversions, each swept up two octaves and back
down in a register built specifically to be playable on guitar. Pair Sweeps
links a combination’s two trichords into one continuous gesture — one trichord
sweeping up, the other sweeping back down — cycling through all three
inversions of both.

The complete mental practice, technique, and Long Line Rhythm system from
Trichord Pairs carries over unchanged — this book assumes you’re
either working through it alongside the original or have been through that material once
already.

What This System Gives You:

• Harmonic Minor, Fully Covered: The tonic Harmonic Minor
  sound and the Phrygian Dominant (mode 5) — the two modes of harmonic minor
  musicians reach for most.
• Harmonic Major, All 7 Modes: One verified 027-026
  combination per mode — the single valid pairing this scale’s own interval
  structure allows.
• All Three Symmetric Scales: 16 combinations from WholeHalf Diminished, 16 from Half-Whole Diminished, and 6 from Whole Tone — 38
  combinations total from scales most trichord-pair material never touches.
• Sweeps and Pair Sweeps: Every individual trichord in the
  book taken through its three inversions in a guitar-practical register, plus every
  combination linked into a continuous ascending-and-descending Pair Sweep.
• The Same Complete Practice System: Mental practice,
  Home Base technique, and Long Line Rhythm, applied directly to this new material.
• Full PDF and MIDI Practice Files: Five kinds of files
  — Overview, Sequence, Scale-Run, Sweep, and Pair Sweep — every
  combination voiced eighteen ways and run through all twelve keys.

Table of Contents for Trichord Pairs 2:

1. Front Matter: Acknowledgments, About the Author,
   Foreword, Preface: How to Use This Book.
2. Chapter 1: Introduction — What’s In This Volume.
3. Chapter 2: Mental Practice (full method, as in
   Trichord Pairs)
4. Chapter 3: Technique and Physiology (full method,
   as in Trichord Pairs)
5. Chapter 4: Long Line Rhythm (full method, as in
   Trichord Pairs)
6. Chapter 5: The Trichord Pairs System
   • Harmonic Minor — 027-026 Combinations (2 Modes).
   • Harmonic Major — 027-026 Combinations (All 7 Modes).
   • The Symmetric Scales — 026-026 Combinations.
   • Whole-Half Diminished — 16 Combinations.
   • Half-Whole Diminished — 16 Combinations.
   • Whole Tone — 6 Combinations.
7. Chapter 6: Sweeps — Individual trichords, three
   inversions, two-octave sweeps in a guitar-practical register.
8. Chapter 7: Pair Sweeps — Linking a combination’s
   two trichords into one continuous ascending-and-descending gesture.
9. Chapter 8: Practice Materials and Application
10. Chapter 9: Troubleshooting, Context, and Consistency
11. Conclusion
12. Appendix A: The Muse Eek Ear Training Curriculum
13. Appendix B: Pitch Class Sets, Chord Tones, and Available
    Tensions — including a Trichord Usability Reference showing every chord
    each trichord shape can be played over.
14. Harmonic and Melodic Equivalence Volume 11B is Included in this book a 19.99 value that gives indepth information on a Harmonic Major Scale Trichord