Once you have mastered guitar chords in their root shapes, inversions will be your next step. Chord inversions make it easy to change between chords in different positions without causing strain on your fretboard hand. This post will expose guitarists to new major and minor chord inversions, building a whole new series of chord shapes on the fretboard. This is valuable information for every beginner guitarist and a great reminder lesson for more advanced players. Ear training will help develop your skill to recognize chords in different inversions as well. Check out my post on ear training here at
http://www.mikesguitartalk.com/2011/10/ear-training-and-how-it-helps-on-guitar.html to develop your musical ear.
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| Guitarist playing chord inversions |
Let's start out with basic major chord inversions. Find it here at
http://www.instantguitarist.com/major-chord-inversions?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+InstantGuitarist+%28INSTANT+GUITARIST%29.
The most common way to play a chord is known as the root position, meaning the root of the chord is the lowest note played, with the third and fifth notes above it.
But you don’t always have to play chords that way, in fact you can use either the third or fifth note as the lowest tone and it will still sound fine.
Before we get into that, let’s back up and look at things in a bit more detail:
Major Chord Primer
First of all let’s talk about how to construct a chord. For the purposes of this post I’m just going to talk about major chords, but the same principles apply with other types of chords as well.
A major chord essentially consists of three notes. These three notes are often called a triad (“tri” meaning three).
The first note is the note that gives the chord it’s name. For example if we’re playing a C chord, the root note is C. The second note of our chord is the third note of the C major scale, which is E. The last note we need is the 5th note of the scale, which is G. So our C major triad consists of C E and G, played like this:
–x–
–x–
–0– G
–2– E
–3– C
–x–
You could turn this into a four or five note chord by playing the C and/or E on the top two strings, but for now we’re just going to concern ouselves with the triad.
1st Inversion
To get the first inversion of a chord, you move the root note from the lowest note to the highest. In this case, the order of the notes from bottom to top will be, E G C, like this:
–x–
–1– C
–0– G
–2– E
–x–
–x–
Try playing this on your guitar to get a sense of the difference in sound between a chord in root position and 1st inversion. The difference in sound is subtle but noticeable. Being able to hear different inversions is a fairly advanced ear training skill that will help you a lot when learning songs by ear.
2nd Inversion
The second inversion of a chord involves putting the 5th note of the chord on the bottom, with the root note next and the third on top. In our example it would be G C E:
–0– E
–1– C
–0– G
–x–
–x–
–x–
Again, try playing the second inversion and listen for the differences in sound between root position, first inversion and second inversion.
There is actually a third inversion that involves seventh chords, but that will be the topic for another post. Until then have some fun figuring the root, 1st and 2nd inversions of different chords on your guitar and I catch up with you all later.
 |
| Guitarist with slide |
Here is a great example of chord inversions and triads. Triads are chords with three notes in them. We saw a sample of these voicings above, but this next article will go into more depth at
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons/chords/triadschord_inversions.html.
Triads/Chord Inversions
(+Applying them to Guitar)
Table of Contents
1. Intoduction
2. Setting up Triads
3. Triad Inversion
Introduction
Hey Everyone, this is my first lesson on UltimateGuitar.com. I thought I would share my knowledge on Chord Building. In this Lesson I am going to start with the basics, which is Triads and Inverting those triads. If you apply these techniques correctly, not only will you be getting a nice crash course in some music theory, but you will also be writing more creative pieces in no time. Hope you enjoy!
Setting Up Triads
First of all, what is a triad? Simple, a triad is just another name for a chord consisting of 3 notes that can be stacked into thirds. Now I know a lot of guitarists out there don't even know what a "third" means, so I am going to create a small table to help you understand intervals. Lets make C our root note, and 1 semitone is equal to a half step on the guitar. Also note that B to C and E to F are natural half steps in music.
Note | # of Semitones | Interval
C | 0 | Perfect Unison
C#/Db| 1 | Minor Second
D | 2 | Major Second
D#/Eb| 3 | Minor Third
E | 4 | Major Third
F | 5 | Perfect Fourth
F#/Gb| 6 | Tritone
G | 7 | Perfect Fifth
G#/Ab| 8 | Minor Sixth
A | 9 | Major Sixth
A#/Bb| 10 | Minor Seventh
B | 11 | Major Seventh
C | 12 | Perfect Octave
For now, we are just going to be focusing on rows 4 and 5, the major third and the minor third. So lets create a Cmajor triad with the info given. To create a Cmajor Triad we would start with the root note, which is C. Then we would go up a major third to get our second note, which would be E. To get our final note of the Cmajor triad, we would go up a minor third from E, which is G. Following this pattern will help you create any major triad. Just think of it as Major from the root, then minor from the third, or Mm, which is how I keep it in my head. Here are some very simple major triads that I am sure most of you know, and now you know that there is method to why they... sound so good!
Cmaj Amaj Fmaj Dmaj
e|-0-E---0-E---1-F---5-A---|
B|-1-C---2-C#--1-C---7-F#--|
G|-0-G---2-A---2-A---7-D---|
D|-2-E---2-E---3-F---7-A---|
A|-3-C---0-A---3-C---5-D---|
E|-------------1-F---------|
Okay, so now that you know how to form a Major Triad, you are probably wondering to yourself... How do I form a minor triad? This is very simple, you notice that a Major Triad is in the formation of Mm, or major third, then minor third. To form a Minor Triad it is just the other way around, mM, or minor third, then major third. So lets form a Cminor triad! We would start with a C, then going up a minor third we would land on a Eb. Then we go up a major third from Eb to get our final note which is G. Here are some examples of minor triads.
Cmin Dmin Bmin Emin
e|-8--C----1-F---2-F#---0-E--|
B|-8--G----3-D---3-D----0-B--|
G|-8--Eb---2-A---4-B----0-G--|
D|-10-C----0-D---4-F#---2-E--|
A|-10-G----------2-B----2-B--|
E|-8--C-----------------0-E--|
I am not going to go into Augmented and Diminished chords in depth in this lesson. But If you were wondering how to create them, here is the method to forming them. To create a Augmented Triad, you are going to stack two Major Thirds, MM. To create a Diminished Triad, you are going to stack two Minor triads, mm. In a future lesson I will explain when it is a good time to apply these chords and how they should usually be resolved in different types of music.
E+ G+ Fdim Bdim
e|-0-E----3-G-----------------|
B|-1-B#---0-B-----------3-D---|
G|-1-G#---0-G----1-Ab---4-B---|
D|-2-E----1-D#---3-F----3-F---|
A|--------2-B----2-Cb---2-B---|
E|--------3-G----1-F----------|
Triad Inversion
Okay so now that we have the basics out of the way, lets get into some concepts that are a tad bit more tricky, but definitely not overwhelming if you take a little time to study. Inversion can mean a couple different things in music, you can have inverted chords, inverted melodies, as well as more complex inversions like inverted voices. We are going to focus mainly on inverted chords. Lets refer back to how we built our Cmajor Triad, it consisted of C,E,G. Inversion has everything to do with whatever the bottom note to the chords is, or the Bass note. So a normal C chord obviously isn't inverted because C is the Bass note and it is also the root note of the chord. But what if we made E our bass note?
Cmaj/E
e|-----|
B|-----|
G|-0-G-|
D|-2-E-|
A|-3-C-|
E|-0-E-|
This would still be considered a Cmajor chord even though C is not our bass note. Since the third of the chord is our bass note, this would be considered first inversion. Anytime the third of the chord is the bass note, it is considered first inversion. Lets look at some examples.
Gmaj/B Fmaj/A Amin/C Bmin/D
e|-3-G-------------5-A-------------|
B|-2-Db------------x-------12-B----| First Letter is Chord Name
G|-0-G----2-A------2-A-----11-F#---| Second Letter is Bass Note
D|-x------3-F------2-E------9-B----|
A|-2-B----3-C------3-C------9-F#---|
E|--------5-A--------------10-D----|
There are many ways to form these chords on your guitar if you know where all your notes are located. If you don't... study your fretboard, and be creative!Lets move on to second inversion. Whenever the fifth of the chord is the bass note, it is considered second inversion. So if we refer back to the Cmajor triad again, this is one way it would look in second inversion.
e|------|
B|-1-C--|
G|-0-G--| G is the Bass Note and
D|-2-E--| it is also a 5th away
A|-3-C--| from C.
E|-3-G--|
This applies to all chords in Second Inversion. Here are some more examples of Chords in Second Inversion.
Fmaj/C Amin/E Dmin/A
e|-1-F------5-A--------------|
B|-1-C------1-C--------------|
G|-2-A------2-A------2-A-----|
D|-3-F------2-E------3-F-----|
A|-3-C---------------5-D-----|
E|-------------------5-A-----|
That is all for now, hope this helped you better understand the creation of chords all around us. Study, experiment, and enjoy! Here is a tiny finger picking piece applying triads in root position and inversions. Go ahead and leave a comment if you have any questions.
x2
e|12----------7-----------3-----------7---8---10----|
B|------0-----------0-----------0-----8-------------|
G|----0---0-------0---0-------0---0---9-------------|
D|--------------------------------------------------|
A|------------6-----------2-------------------------|
E|0-------------------------------------------------|
1 + 2 + 3 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 1 + 2 + 3 +
E B G B
B =Em B =G Aug. B =Gmaj G =Em
G G(2nd Inv.) G(1st Inv.) E
E D# B
e|8---7---5---7-----------0---2---3---0-------3---0-|
B|----------------8---5-----0---0---0-4---4---4-----|
G|----------------------------------------4---------|
D|--------------------------------------------------|
A|0-----------------------3-----------2-------------|
E|------------7-----------------------------------0-|
1 + 2 + 3 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 1
C B E D#
A =Am B C =Cmaj B
B
 |
Closeup of chord inversions on
fretboard |
I would like to build on major chord inversions with this next article. You will be introduced to major and minor chord inversions, plus different string shapes on the fretboard. Find it here at
http://www.blackbeltguitar.com/news/show_news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1065792962&archive=.
A chord inversion is simply a triad played with the with a different sequencing of the root, 3rd and 5th. When the root is on the bottom, we say that the chord is played in "Root Position". If the root is moved to the top, leaving the 3rd on the bottom, then we call this triad a "1st Inversion". Finally, if we raise the root to the middle, and the 3rd to the top, leaving the 5th on the bottom, we call this triad a "2nd Inversion".
Knowing how to invert chords will add flexibility to playing, especially when playing harmonic melody with chords. Sometimes the melody is best played as the top note in the chord, sometimes in the middle, and sometimes on the bottom.
Let's look at the most common positions on the fretboard for playing major and minor inversions. These inversions should be thoroughly memorized and rehearsed, so that you can invert any chord in any key at will.
Major Chord Inversions
In these chords, the 3rd degree refers to the major 3rd interval. Play it and listen for it.
Major Root Position (Root, Major 3rd, Perfect 5th)
The root position gets its name from the root note being on the bottom of the 1-3-5 sequence. The root note in this position acts as the anchor, and the harmony rides on top.
Major First Inversion (Major 3rd, Perfect 5th, Root)
The first inversion gets its name because the root, or 1st degree is moved from the bottom to the top in a 3-5-1 sequence. This voicing is especially useful when the root note rides on top of the other notes,making it very distinguishable as the highest voice in the trio.
Major Second Inversion (Perfect 5th, Root, Major 3rd)
The second inversion gets its name because both root and the 5th degree are moved from the bottom to the top in a 5-1-3 sequence. The root note gets buried in the middle and becomes more subtle.
Minor Chord Inversions
In these chords, the 3rd degree refers to the minor 3rd interval. Play it and listen for it.
Minor Root Position (Root, Minor 3rd, Perfect 5th)
Minor First Inversion (Minor 3rd, Perfect 5th, Minor 3rd)
Minor Second Inversion (Perfect 5th, Root, Minor 3rd)
Exercises:
These exercises will help you establish the positions, feeling and sound of the different inversions in your ear. Try playing each inversion harmonically, and melodically by arpeggiating.
For each of the key notes, Play each inversion back and forth across all strings, then up and down the neck on the same strings, following the patterns in the first two examples:
- C Minor Inversions
- Db Major Inversions
- Db Minor Inversions
- D Major Inversions
- D Minor Inversions
- Eb Major Inversions
- Eb Minor Inversions
- E Major Inversions
- E Minor Inversions
- F Major Inversions
- F Minor Inversions
- Gb Major Inversions
- Gb Minor Inversions
- G Major Inversions
- G Minor Inversions
- Ab Major Inversions
- Ab Minor Inversions
- A Major Inversions
- A Minor Inversions
- Bb Major Inversions
- Bb Minor Inversions
- B Major Inversions
- B Minor Inversions
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| Chord inversions on guitar |
Chord inversions work for any chord imaginable. So far I have offered major and minor voicings, but how about some of the other chords. Find a whole new series of chord theory and inversions here at
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons/chords/basic_chord_theory_iv.html?no_takeover.
Intro:
Hello, and welcome to the fourth and final instalment of the “Basic Chord Theory” series. In part four, we will wrap up by looking at suspended chords, as well as learning the basics of chord inversions. Enjoy!
Suspended Chords:
The first thing we will look at today is suspended chords. To start, there are two main types of suspended chords, a suspended second chord, and a suspended fourth chord. Both these types of chords alter the base chord slightly. To get more insight on suspended chords, it’s probably best to look at some example, which is what we will do!
The Suspended Second Chord:
Lets start off with the suspended second chord. Like all the other chords we have learned, this chord can be expressed in a numerical sequence:
1 2 5
So, lets use this sequence to construct a Csus2 chord, starting on C:
E||-------||
B||-------||
G||-------||
D||-------||
A||--3----||
E||-------||
Next, we would add the second note of the C major scale, being D:
E||-------||
B||-------||
G||-------||
D||--0----||
A||--3----||
E||-------||
And then finally, we would add the fifth note of the C major, G:
E||-------||
B||-------||
G||--0----||
D||--0----||
A||--3----||
E||-------||
And that’s a Csus2! Now as you know, you can change around the order of the notes and get the same chord, so why don’t you experiment with that. For example, I play my Csus2 many ways, one being C D C D G, which is played like this:
E||--3----||
B||--3----||
G||--5----||
D||--0----||
A||--3----||
E||-------||
Play it however you feel comfortable. We will discuss this chord more later. I think it would be helpful if we also new the suspended fourth chord, so we can reflect on suspended chords in their entirety.
The Suspended Fourth:
The suspended fourth is very similar to the suspended second. It follows this pattern:
1 4 5
So, lets now construct a Csus4, starting with C:
E||-------||
B||-------||
G||-------||
D||-------||
A||--3----||
E||-------||
Next, we would add the fourth note of the C major scale, F:
E||-------||
B||-------||
G||-------||
D||--3----||
A||--3----||
E||-------||
And finally, the fifth note of the C major, G:
E||-------||
B||-------||
G||--0----||
D||--3----||
A||--3----||
E||-------||
So, there is your basic Csus4! Once again, try experimenting with different ordering. Luckily, the Csus4 is a pretty versatile chord, so you could simply just play it C F G C F, and get this:
E||--1----||
B||--1----||
G||--0----||
D||--3----||
A||--3----||
E||-------||
Suspended Chords pt. 2:
Now that we understand how to play the two main types of suspended chords, lets discuss them. What you should notice is that a suspended chord is just a major chord, with a replaced third. In the suspended SECOND chord, the third is replaced by a SECOND, while in the suspended FOURTH chord, the third is replaced by a FOURTH. Do you see the pattern? Now, suspension can be added to any chord. For example, a C7sus2 would be 1 2 5 b7, while a C7sus4 would be 1 4 5 b7. One exception is that there is technically no such thing as a minor chord with a suspension. Why? Well, lets try and figure out what a minor suspended chord will be. We know a minor chord is:
1 b3 5
And we know that suspended chords replace the third with another note. So, to get a suspended second, we would replace the third in this chord with a second, to get:
1 2 5
Which is exactly the same as the major with a suspended second. So, just for simplicity, we stick with Csus2.
Chord Inversions:
The final thing we need to look at is chord inversions. Don’t worry, we don’t need to learn any new numerical sequences. Chord inversions are just altering the chords we already know. Remember how I said when rearranging the order of notes in a chord, you must keep the root the same. Well, I lied. I said that so I don’t confuse you early on. But know, with your knowledge of chords, you are ready to learn about the chord inversion. Chord inversions are actually really easy. Lets say we had a C major chord:
C E G
So, there it is, as standard C major triad. But, how do you invert it? Well this chord has two inversions. The first inversion of this chord is this:
E G C
Notice how now the first note is E, while the other two are G and C (you can change the order if you wish to E C G, just like you would change the order of any other chord). This is a C chord, first inversion. You might see it written multiple ways, such as Calt, or C/E. How do you determine this is first inversion? Well, lets look back at the standard C major:
C E G
Notice how the E is the first note from the C? Well, if we make that E the root:
E G C
Than we would have what we already know is C/E. In the original chord, the E was the FIRST note from the C, making this chord C major, FIRST inversion.
Now, the second inversion is very similar. It goes like this:
G C E
Notice how now the root note is G. In the standard C major chord, G was the SECOND note from C, making this note C major SECOND inversion.
Also, chords can have more than two inversions, depending on how many different notes are in the chord. For example, lets look at a C7 chord:
C E G Bb
Now, we know that first inversion would be this:
E G Bb C
And second inversion would be this:
G Bb C E
But, this chord has four notes, meaning we could make a third inversion. Bb is the third note from the root, C, meaning if we made Bb the root, we would have C7 third inversion, or C7/Bb.
Bb C E G
Using this knowledge, we can determine that a thirteenth chord has six different inversions! So, there you have it, you now know chord inversions! But, one final question remains…
Why Use Inversions?
You are probably asking yourself “what’s the point? Why not just play the chord normally”. Well, this is a lesson in itself, which I will be sure to write later. The reason people use inversions is because of the “voicing’s” of the chords. With inversions, one can hold a melody, while following the standard chords of that key. Confused? Don’t worry, I’ll write about voicing’s later.
The Table Of Chords!
Well, it’s time to add the final chords to our table of chords.
M = 1 3 5
m = 1 b3 5
Aug = 1 3 #5
Dim = 1 b3 b5
7 = 1 3 5 b7
7M = 1 3 5 7
m7 = 1 b3 5 b7
m7M = 1 b3 5 7
Add9 = 1 3 5 9
9 = 1 3 5 b7 9
Add11 = 1 3 5 11
11 = 1 3 5 b7 9 11
Add13 = 1 3 5 13
Sus2 = 1 2 5
Sus4 = 1 4 5
7sus2 = 1 2 5 b7
7sus4 = 1 4 5 b7
7Msus2 = 1 2 5 7
7Msus4 = 1 4 5 7
I only added a couple suspended chords to this list, but feel free to add suspensions to any chord you want. Now, if you look at this table, you see 19 chords. But don’t be intimidated! Remember, all these chords can be traced back to the Major chord somehow, so really, it’s the only one you need to memorize. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, most of these chord names are self-explanatory. Look for the patterns, it will immensely help you. Don’t think of it as memorization, think of it almost as reading. When you read “suspended second”, don’t say “1 2 5”, say “major chord with a second instead of a third”.
It will make it easier when you have 19 chords to deal with.
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| Closeup of guitar chord inversions |
Chord inversions help beyond having an easier time moving on the fretboard. Different chord inversions can also be used to double guitar parts while recording, filling in more of the chord and creating a bigger sound. Check out this article at
http://www.guitarworld.com/killer-guitar-tracks-double-tracking-and-finding-your-own-tone-part-2 to get some insight on this process.
With Collective Soul, I have to take a different approach when it comes to doubling since there are three guitar players in the band.
What we usually do is to have each guy play his part using a completely different guitar/amp setup for each track. When it comes to solos or any melody bits, I’ll typically double them using my homemade amp so we have some options at mix-down.
When I’m recording my own material, my strategy changes a bit. I really want the songs to represent me as the only guitar player, so my guitar sound needs to help reflect that concept. I’ll double a lot of parts, but I fight the urge to use a different amp and guitar on every single track; instead, I’ll use a handful of my go-to pieces of gear that I like and call it a day.
So if I’m recording what I’ll refer to as a standard-issue rock song with a riff, big chorus guitars, solo etc., this is my usual approach:
For the main riff I’ll use one of my favorite MJ guitars through my homemade amp, and I usually carry this all the way to the end of the song. I’ll then double this with another one of my favorite guitars that has something a little different about it. Sometimes it’s just pickups or scale length. Sometimes I’ll use my homemade amp again or I’ll use my Splawn Quickrod, which is very much in the hot-rodded Marshall camp.
My goal is to make these two tracks as big and fat as possible, and hopefully these parts set up the bed for any melody guitars or solo stuff I’ll want to add. Usually I’ll pan these tracks hard left and right. The tones are different, but not drastically; like I said, I don’t want it to sound like two different guys playing. I guess what I’m going for is more of a stereo sound.
The question that always comes up during the doubling process is just how tight do we make these tracks? It’s weird: When you work in Pro Tools, you automatically find yourself zoning in visually as much as you do with your ears when you listen back to your performance. When you see a little flam between the waveforms, it’s almost like you notice it even more when you listen back. This takes it to where I find myself fighting the urge to make it perfect.
The fact is, if you fix every track and line up everything perfectly, you run the risk of things actually sounding smaller. Well maybe not smaller, but more “mono” sounding, and that sort of defeats the purpose of doubling, doesn’t it? I guess it boils down to what we already know and that is we should be using our ears and not our eyes when we record.
So when the chorus of the big rock song hits, I usually like to bring in another part.
Sometimes it’s a melody or a part with an effect on it, but then other times I just want the chorus to be bigger but without any added melodies. This is where I’ll bring in what I call “helper guitars." Basically my goal is to keep the tone of everything the same, but I want to give the song a kick in the butt.
What I usually do is something like this:
I’ll use a guitar like my Soloway Swan that has a 27-inch scale length and run it through my homemade amp, sometimes with just a tiny smidgeon of chorus on it. I’ll then double that, playing the same chords but on my other Soloway (a seven-string model). There’s just a different timbre you get with longer-scale instruments, and they hold together well with big chords, especially the drop-tuned stuff.
In the mix I’ll just sneak these tracks in, and that slight chorus effect helps make these tracks sit in yet give them some identity. Sometimes I’ll use different inversions of the chords too, and if the song allows me to take advantage of the lower inversions that the seven string does, even better! These parts usually end up anywhere from hard left/right to let’s say about ten and two o’clock on the pan knob.
When it comes to the solos and melody parts, a lot of times I’ll throw some sort of effect on the double just to make things more interesting.
It can be a balancing act between maintaining your original tone and having fun with all the parts and sounds, but it’s worth remembering that tone does really start with the fingers and if it sounds right to you, then it is right!
Chord inversions are a huge help to all guitarists. They will expand your knowledge of the fretboard and offer a new variety of sound. Mike's Guitar Talk is committed to sharing guitar information with guitarists all around the globe. Subscribe now for direct access to your first source for guitar information.
Have fun and stay tuned!
Mike
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