Chapter 12: More Chords and Inversions

What Are Inversions and Why Do We Use Them?

So far all of the chords we have developed have been in root position, meaning that the root of the chord has been on the bottom—this is the simplest way to spell the chord. However, this is not necessarily the easiest way to play chords, nor does it always sound the best. As we develop musically, we need to start using chord inversions. This means having a note other than the root on the bottom. So instead of playing a triad “root-3rd-5th” (from bottom to top), we might instead use “3rd-5th-root” or “5th-root-3rd.” So why would we want to do this? Well actually, there are a few good reasons to use chord inversions:

• Inverting chords can promote less moving around of the hands when going from chord to chord.
• Less moving around helps us to voice lead, or allow for a more smoothly connected sound between chords.
• Inverted chords can be placed below a melody as a way to harmonize (or “flesh out”) your arrangement.

Inverting Major Triads

Let’s start with our good friend the C major triad, and see what happens when we invert it. The notes of the C major chord are C, E, and G, so no matter what order or position we place these three notes in, as long as we have these three, it will always be a C major triad.

We’ll define the different inversions of the C major triad as follows:

• the first triad is in root position (with the root on the bottom)
• the second triad is in first inversion (with the third on the bottom)
• the third triad is in second inversion (with the fifth on the bottom)
• the last triad is in root position, an octave higher than the first.

Back in Chapter 10 we showed the (root position) major triads in all keys. Now it’s time to introduce the inversions of all these, starting with the first inversions:

Play through each of these first-inversion triads on the piano, starting with the C triad, hands separately. As there is now a larger interval on top, use a 1-2-5 fingering for each right-hand chord, but still use fingers 5, 3, and 1 for the left hand. Notice the different combinations of black and white keys as you play through all the first inversions.

And now… for the second inversions of the major triads:

Play through each of these second inversions, again starting with the C triad. The larger interval is now on the bottom, so either a 1-3-5 or 1-2-4 fingering will work fine in the right hand. Use a 5-2-1 fingering for the left hand. Again be aware of the different black and white key combinations as you play.

Inverting Minor Triads

Now we’ll go through the same process for minor triads, starting with the C minor triad:

Similar to the major triad inversions at the beginning of the chapter, here we have minor triads in root position, first inversion, second inversion, and finally root position again, from left to right.

Remember how to change a major triad into a minor triad? In case you forgot, just lower the third a half step. Now take all the minor triads and try inverting each one; we won’t spell them all out for you.

Get a sheet of staff paper and write out the minor triads in first inversion and second inversion, in both hands. Use the previous examples of major triads to help you. Writing music yourself is a great way to learn.

Voice Leading Between Inversions

Voice leading is a term used to describe the melodic lines created as one “voice” of a chord leads to the next chord. For example, when going from a C chord to an F chord, to a G chord (chords using only three notes each), the “line” created by the middle voice of each chord is a kind of melody in itself. How the middle voice in one chord leads to the middle voice in the next chord is what voice leading is all about. This is just one example, but the line does not always have to be connecting only the middle voices of chords (especially with larger chords that have multiple “middle” voices). “Proper” voice leading will help chord progressions sound smooth and continuous. This is largely achieved when the melodic lines travel mostly by steps, without “jumping around” all over the place. Using inversions helps to promote proper voice leading for a smooth flowing sound. In working through some voice leading examples, we’ll revisit “Beauty and the Beast” from the last chapter.

This is the same song as in Chapter 11, but now some of the left hand chords have been inverted. Isn’t this easier to play? Doesn’t it sound better—more smooth? We’ll point out a few of these inversions so you know where they came from. In measure 2, the Gsus4 chord is made up of the notes G, C, and D. We simply took the C and D from the top (as in the Chapter 11 version) and moved these two notes an octave lower. Now, when coming from the C chord in measure 1, the hand does not have to move at all. The E in the middle of the C chord simply moves to a D…sounds much more logical, right? Inversions were applied to all chords other than the C chords in order to make hand movement as small as possible. This also promotes proper voice leading as the left hand sounds more like three smooth melodic lines rather than separate chords that jump around.

Next, we’ll look at a triad progression in the left hand, to see more closely how a progression can benefit from inversions and voice leading.

Listen to track 28 to hear a series of left-hand triads in root position:

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Notice how this sounds rather “disjointed” because we are jumping around in root position. Now with the use of inversions, this left-hand part sounds smoother and more musical.

Listen to track 29 to hear inversions and voice leading applied to these left-hand triads:

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Next, we will take these inverted triads and use them to harmonize an excerpt from the famous Disney song “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” written by Elton John:

Count through the melody, which is our first example using 16th-note rhythms (review the 16th-note counting in Chapter 6 as needed), then work through it and apply the fingerings shown. When the right-hand melody is familiar, add the inverted triads in the left hand!

Elton John

Elton John is one of the most important pianists and songwriters of the late 20th century, hitting his peak of pop superstardom in the ’70s and ’80s. (More about Elton later on in Section 8 – Who’s Who.) In 1994, Elton co-wrote “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” with lyricist Tim Rice for Disney’s animated feature The Lion King. It won the Academy Award that year for Best Original Song. Here are ten more Elton John songs you should check out:

• Candle in the Wind
• Honky Cat
• Crocodile Rock
• I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues
• Daniel
• Kiss the Bride
• Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me
• Rocket Man
• Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
• Your Song

Introducing “Slash Chord” Symbols

When we took the left hand triads in the previous example and applied inversions and voice leading to them, notice that one effect of this was to change the bottom note on some of the chords. For example, the C major triads in the first three measures now have the note E on the bottom instead of C. In popular styles we will frequently see slash chord symbols used to indicate that a chord tone other than the root is to be placed on the bottom. For example, the symbol “C/E” means “play a C major chord, but use E as the bottom note.” A simple way to achieve this is to use left-hand triad inversions as in the previous example. (Later, we will see some other ways to do this, with different voicings and patterns.) We will see slash chords in some of the great songs you’ll be playing later in the book.

In a “slash chord” symbol, the note to the left of the slash is the name of the overall chord, and the symbol to the right of the slash is the bottom or lowest note (“bass note”). I often see beginning players get the two halves of a slash chord symbol “switched around,” so be careful with these!

Major Seventh Chords and Inversions

Now it’s time to go beyond triads, into the world of four-part chords called seventh chords. When we add a fourth note to a triad, it is often the 7th of the chord, as the triad already contains the root, 3rd, and 5th. That is why four-part chords are sometimes referred to as “seventh” chords. The first four-part chord we will look at is the major seventh chord:

As with the triads in Chapter 10, the intervals from the root have been indicated (major 3rd, perfect 5th, and major 7th). These major and perfect intervals are found within the major scale, so you may think of this chord as the first, third, fifth, and seventh degrees of a C major scale.

The chord symbol above the staff is now Cmaj7. There are two components to this chord symbol: the root (C) and the suffix or description (maj7).

Like the triads, these four-part chords can also be inverted. Here are the inversions of a C major 7th chord:

We’ll define these different inversions of the C major seventh chord as follows:

• the first chord is in root position (with the root on the bottom)
• the second chord is in first inversion (with the third on the bottom)
• the third chord is in second inversion (with the fifth on the bottom)
• the fourth chord is in third inversion (with the seventh on the bottom)
• the last chord is in root position, an octave higher than the first.

Minor Seventh Chords and Inversions

Next, we’ll go through the same process for some more commonly used four-part chords, starting with the minor 7th chord.

We can also invert the C minor 7th chord, as follows:

Minor Seventh (With Flatted Fifth) Chords and Inversions

If we flat the 5th of the minor 7th chord, we get another useful chord, which is called… you guessed it… a minor 7♭5 chord:

Note the new diminished 5th interval description on the previous page. When we take a perfect interval (such as a 5th) and reduce it by a half step, we get a diminished interval.

The “minor 7th ♭5” chord is also referred to as a half diminished or half diminished 7th chord.

We can invert the C minor 7th ♭5 chord, as follows:

Dominant Seventh Chords and Inversions

The last four-part chord we will look at in this section is the dominant 7th chord, which is built as follows:

We do not use a specific symbol to indicate the word or function dominant. A chord symbol which consists of a note name followed only by the suffix 7 indicates a dominant 7th chord.

OK, you know what comes next… this dominant 7th chord can then be inverted, as follows:

Play through all of these four-part chords (and their inversions) in the right hand, and then try playing them in the left hand (one octave lower). Then, try to become familiar with these chords built from all roots (i.e., D7, E7, F7, etc.).

Diatonic Four-Part Chords and Progressions

Now it’s time to see how these various four-part chords fit into different keys. Do you remember when we found out about the triads that lived within major keys (the diatonic triads in Chapter 10)? Well, now we’re about to do the same thing with these new four-part chords. Here are the diatonic four-part chords contained within a C major scale:

What we’re doing here is building a four-part chord from each note in the C major scale, making sure that all notes used are contained with the scale (which, in the key of C means we are only using the white keys again). This gives us the various chord qualities shown here from left to right (major 7th, minor 7th, minor 7th, major 7th, dominant 7th, minor 7th, and minor 7th with flatted 5th, in that order). Just like we said for the diatonic triads, a lot of songs are written using these diatonic four-part chords!

As with the triads we demonstrated earlier, the Roman numeral under the staff indicates the chord function.

Of course, we can have diatonic four-part chords in any key, not just in C major! So now we’ll derive the four-part chords within a couple more keys, starting with F major:

Next, we’ll look at a diatonic four-part chord progression in the left hand, and see how it benefits from inversions and voice leading.

Listen to track 30 to hear a series of left-hand four-part chords in root position. These are all diatonic to the key of F:

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Notice how this sounds rather “disjointed” because we are jumping around in root position. Now with the use of inversions, this left-hand part sounds smoother and more musical.

Listen to track 31 to hear inversions and voice leading applied to the previous progression of four-part chords:

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We will next use these inverted triads to harmonize an excerpt from the famous R&B/pop song “Killing Me Softly with His Song.”

Count through the melody (review the eighth-note counting in Chapter 6 as needed), then work through it and apply the fingerings shown. When the right-hand melody is familiar, add the inverted four-part chords in the left hand!

Finally, in this chapter we’ll examine the diatonic four-part chords in G major, as follows:

Now we’ll take a look at the accompaniment (comping) figure from the classic Santana song “Oye Como Va.” Note that it alternates between two chords: Am7 and D7 (II and V of G major, as shown above). The Am7 chord is voiced in second inversion, to lead smoothly into the D7 chord in root position:

The counting has been written in the first two measures to help you with this syncopated rhythm. Count carefully with all these eighth notes and eighth rests.

A lot of pop and R&B songs are written using diatonic four-part chords, so you should learn them in as many keys (and inversions) as you can!

The song “Oye Como Va” was originally written by Tito Puente, one of the world’s best-known salsa musicians. Santana added some rock elements to their version of the tune, which was included on their groundbreaking Abraxas album, released in 1970. An eclectic mix of rock, blues, salsa, and jazz, this record is a good example of the experimental spirit underpinning the West Coast rock scene in the late ’60s and ’70s.