How Chord Inversions Work - Music Theory 

Have you done any videos on Negative Harmony?

Thank you. That’s exactly what we’re trying to achieve. Transparent explanation debunking the clouds of mystery

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😀

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Great!

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You’re most kind. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk

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Oh yes. I know who you mean. Lovelock is solid but pretty dry!

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Have a look at the other harmony videos we have on the channel plus see the Advanced Theory and Bach Chorale courses at www.mmcourses.co.uk

I don’t think it’s a secret but neither is it prescriptive. Which chords represent which emotions is a very subjective issue very much in the hands of composers and performers. The same chord in one context can make a totally different impact in another.

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A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk including details of our online courses and of our exciting Maestros programme. If you value this channel and would like to help us continue to share and develop the content please consider supporting us as a level 1 Maestro by clicking here ru-vid.com/show-UC8yI8P7Zi3yYTsypera-IQgjoin Alternatively you can express your support for the channel by clicking on the Super Thanks button beneath any of our videos. Thank you.

@@MusicMattersGB I'm trying to support my own video making habit: music theory for piano tuners. ;-) I'll definitely be clicking some like buttons, though. :-)

That’s much appreciated.

In first inversion you might for example have 3-5 in the LH and 1-5 in the RH. Many other possibilities exist.

Thanks. Inversions are all about which note of the chord is at the bottom. If the root is at the bottom it’s in root position, if the 3rd is at the bottom it’s in first inversion, if the 5th is at the bottom it’s in second inversion

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That’s certainly a possibility

We can provide a deeper dive

You don’t need to do that and it’s often problematic if you limit yourself to that. You can mix and match which notes of the chord are used where.

Baroque composers used figured bass. Later, the Roman Numeral system was introduced and the two traditions associated with that emerged.

Yes. The inversion is determined by the bottom note

@@MusicMattersGB Ok one more thing... I always thought the chords you were describing in this vid were slash chords... play a triad with the right hand and play the 2nd or 3th note in the base with the left hand. eg: play CEG in the right while playing G octaves in the base. C/G slash chord

Slash chords are one way of describing what’s happening.

Absolutely correct.

Let’s take your example of a C9 chord - CEGBD If C is in the bass it’s root position. If E is in the bass it’s first inversion If G is in the bass it’s second inversion. If B is in the bass it’s third inversion. If D is in the bass it’s fourth inversion.

@Music Matters thanks. I'm still wobbly on the concept, as D a whole step above C would be the 2nd note, not 9th. So if that D was the bass note, then the first inversion would thus start with D (2nd), rather than E (3rd). It's these edge cases that make music theory a tougher nut to crack

@Music Matters My music would completely fall apart if the Triad notes 1, 3, and 5 are ALWAYS considered the lowest notes when thinking of inversions For Eg, the notes D F A are upper extensions above the Triad so will be 9th 11th and 13th, regardless of their register / octave. That would make sense to me.

You don’t have to have 135 in the bass - just a bass note

There’s a long history to this but it really becomes established during the early 1600’s when composers start thinking much more about harmony and about thinking up the chord from the bass. We started with Figured Bass, a system based on intervals above the bass notes to describe the content of the chord. The Roman Numeral system followed and helped musicians to see the place of chords within a key. Slash chords are much more recent and are a very practical way of finding chords quickly.

By default most barr chords on the GUITAR are INVERTED already. Example a simple G Major barr chord is R 5 1 3 5 R Cowboy shape.........................................R 3, 5, R 3 R C Maj7 BARR at 3rd fret...........................R 5, 7 3 5 The..........................................................G 3, 6 ( Inverted E min) If i just shift my hand place my PINKY on the E note A STRING you'll simply see an E min TRIAD. Slide two frets.... F, 3, 6 or Inverted D min.. If I play the Bb Maj7 add #11 ( open E) ....aka N6 of A min. instead of playing D minor G7 into C MAJOR ( ii, V, I) all the time. ............................ Bb maj #11 G7 into C MAJOR Db maj7 is also the N6 chord of C MAJOR Inverted F min....( you could F minor via Lyd #2 ..A Harmonic min) F lyd b3...........................................................via C Harmonic MAJOR. You can hear Joe Satriani use these Inverted chords The song starts on Open D, C, D, E Then the inverted D min...then inverted F min/maj7 in TEARS in the RAIN. He'll also play G#, F, D, B full diminished chords. before playing E7 into A min The Hardest chord in the song...is A min add b6 ( A 5, 6, b3) A , E, F, C ...The b3 is in the second octave. It could be inverted F Maj7.... I personally Barr the 6th fret to play that chord. It's a funkie chord to make or you have to practice it..but it sounds pretty in the song.

​@@oneeyemonster3262 Interesting theory but I wouldn't call a bar chord inverted just because the 5th is closer to the root than the 3rd. If the root is the lowest note in the chord then the chord is not inverted. I've seen chord charts where the internal harmony of a r 5 r 3 5 r bar chord is denoted as C5 (for C G C E G C) but that's still not an inversion, just a means of differentiating it from an ''open'' first position (cowboy) chord, in this case it denotes an 8th fret C maj bar. I've been through this a million times with literally hundred of students and it's never a one size fits all approach. Joe Pass never thought in terms of #5 or b6 or 11ths, 13ths while playing, unless he was giving an example for someone who needed that, he literally pieced out stacked triads with augmented or diminished internal harmonies. At first, that sounds insane - and maybe it is - but eventually you can reach a point, like Joe Pass did, to where you have way too many rules swirling around in your head for extensions above a 7th to be able to hold a melody + a rhythm + a harmony + a lead line at the same time while improvising and translating why it's an 11th and not a 4th, a 13th instead of a 6th, etc. Joe Satriani, to my awareness, has never been able to, or needed to, do that kind of improvisation instantaneously so it stands to reason he has never tested the waters beyond a handful of memorized chord shapes which he likely chose to match a scalar or modal pattern based strictly upon how it sits on the fretboard. This is not knocking Satriani, I have the utmost respect for him and his work, but he himself will admit and he has admitted that what he does isn't very complex beyond the compositional aspects which he has almost entirely worked out long before a performance. In both instances, Joe Pass and Joe Satriani, both men have made specific choices of how to think of harmony which suits (suited) their individual needs - #1 being able to perform with the very least amount of thought put into it as neither could ever afford the ability to put it on paper, send it off to a publisher and never have to perform it themselves. Revisit what Steve Vai said once about simply jamming with Larry Carlton ''You have to be really careful around him while playing a 335'', which almost certainly was Steve's way of saying Larry knows chordal harmony inside and out and he WILL KNOW if you slip up. Both men are masters but they each have a very different perspective on how to structure their internal view of applied theory across the fretboard.

@@tasteapiana it's not to me either...but when read it or play it on the keyboard it gets sort of wacked..It's just easier if you comprehend it in C Major/A min at first. It gets wacked for alot people If you apply C# Harmonic min and or E Harmonic MAJOR It is what it is...B # for C# Harmonic min....C for E Harmonic MAJOR Lets say I do this to cadence. Simple barr G # sus 4/11...The 4th and 11 are being played ................... F# sus 4/11 ....................A sus 9...( but it's the same if I was to play E sus 4/11 ...................F maj7 add #11 ( open B and E)...for the N6 of E MAJOR ..................B7 add 11...it's just B 3, b7..against the open B , E. Then.........D Maj7 , E maj7....Both Barred Then.........A maj7 at the nut. Then .......C Maj ( cowboy) Then ........F MAJOR ...barr Then G# min Then.......C# min. I could had played A min as A lyd b3 or make the A min chord at the Nut...A min/F on paper it could be F Maj7 heck I'll even do this C maj7..then F Maj But C Maj7 is sort of inverted E min.. Im in E MAJOR/C# min..thou

@@MusicMattersGB Interesting. I've heard that modes were a focus of some early composers, such as Vivaldi, who were associated with the Catholic Church. Hence, why some to this very day refer to them as ''The Church Modes''. I'm not the most versed in his works, just a handful which I had to perform at 8 years of age during my 4th year on violin at SIUE which was 40 years ago as of this September lol. That said, it's been a while, but I seem to remember a very rigid harmonic structure in Vivaldi's works which was not the typical chordal harmonic palette of the era. I'm wondering if there was a hesitancy to steering theory education toward the modal school of thought, which Vivaldi leaned, and instead steer it more toward the diatonic thought of later composers, say, those of the Germanic or more Protestant tradition. There is a distinct lack of modal significance within our Roman Numeral system, even the vi/Aeolian is treated as if it is its own creature yet the demarcations for diatonic parallels persist! One would think, if we are to assume that there is such a thing as a minor ''key'', that Aeolian would have become the word used instead of Minor had there not been some kind of group think opposed to injecting any modal demarcations.

The two mean the same thing. If you're trying to communicate with someone who only knows one notation then use that one. The UK notation is simpler, though, and uses less ink. For seventh chords the UK system would give us I7, I7b, I7c, and I7d but for the US system we'd have I7, I65, I43, and I42. It's definitely easier to explain the UK system compared to the US system.

All true. Good to know both in order to avoid confusion

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Absolutely

Good idea!

You have completed provided the best solution for me about the confusion I had about chord inversions. God bless you

That’s great.

Absolutely