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I am sure you have encountered chord symbols such as C/G or F/Ab. This usually means the first letter denotes the triad and the second letter denotes a bass note to be played underneath it.
Sometimes you'll see stuff like:
G
A
These are two chord symbols, written like a fraction. It means there is a G major triad on top of an A major triad. Of course they are extremely hard to play on the guitar - on the piano you just stack the two triads on top of each other.
Check out the following example:
These are three triads. Each one of them has a B as it's middle note. Usually, when we think melodically we think in terms of keys and these three triads would be considered pretty much incompatible. But, imagine soloing on a B-pedal based tune. Now you could use any of these triads (and maybe even parts of their scales) to play something interesting.
Here are three triads which are built around the middle note (D) of the G major triad:
This adds two more triads or keys (D and Bb) which can be related to the note B. Remember: We're are not talking about relationships as in regular harmonic terms. In jazz you commonly solo on a given chord sequence. With this kinda stuff you create your whole harmonic environment as you go. And the keys used connect by certain notes.
These three triads are built from the middle note of the B major triad (D#):
Wait a minute! If we keep going like this we'll cover all 12 keys.
While you probably may not want to use this approach at a wedding gig playing 'Misty' it can be quite helpful when stuck in a creative low. I often use it to play myself out of a slippery situation (lost the chorus, somebody else did, don't know the bridge of a tune). Sometimes I'll play really far out notes and then I'll use this system to work my way back to the original key.
Finally a little scale exercise:
Could this be considered a polytonal scale?
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