Originally Posted by: Goli4rdIs there a group of shapes that are consistent across the fretboard?

It's good to realize that triads (and all the inversions) are just parts of the big full chords you may already know. They are not really separate things, just three notes from a bigger chord shape - the very essence of that chord if you will.

For example:

A 1st inversion triad on the G, B, and E strings is just the top part of a standard barre chord. Just like you can move around your barre chords, you can move around those triads.

A 2nd inversion triad on the G, B, and E strings is nothing but the top part of a standard D chord. If you move it up one fret it becomes a D# triad, 2nd inversion. One more fret and it's an E triad, 2nd inversion.

A 2nd inversion triad on the D, G, and B strings is just the middle part of a standard A chord, which is essentially a 5th string root barre chord with the nut being the barre.

Find any 5th string root barre chord, like C major for example, and just play the D, G, and B strings - and that's a 2nd inversion triad.

Hope this helps a bit. /Ben