Inversions
The same three notes, with a different one at the bottom. Nothing about the chord changes on paper and quite a lot changes in the room, because the bass note is what your ear listens to first.
- same notes
- 3 or 4 positions
- bass decides
which styles use it
- Classical
- Pop
- Gospel
- Film music
In short
An inversion is a chord with something other than the root as its lowest note. Put the third at the bottom and you have first inversion; put the fifth there and you have second inversion. A seventh chord has a third inversion as well, with the seventh in the bass. The notes are identical in every case.
Root position is a statement. An inversion is the same statement said while walking, which is why progressions built on inversions feel like they are going somewhere.
How to build it
- Take the bottom note and move it up an octave
That is all an inversion is. Do it twice and you are back where you started an octave higher.
- Pick the inversion that moves the least
Going from C to F, root position makes every finger jump. Use the second inversion of F and two notes stay exactly where they were. Less movement sounds smoother and is easier to play.
- Use the bass line as a melody
Choosing inversions is really choosing a bass line. Make it walk by step and a plain progression starts to sound arranged.
Where you run into this
- In any piano part that does not jump around the keyboard between chords.
- On a chart, written as a slash chord: C/E is a C chord with an E in the bass.
- In a choir or string arrangement, where every part wants the shortest distance to its next note.
The positions side by side
C major, three ways:
- C E G, root position, settled
- E G C, first inversion, lighter and on its way somewhere
- G C E, second inversion, unstable enough that classical writing treats it as a special case