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I'm on a bit of a binge tonight, I feel a bit musically drained, hence all the threads.

Anyway, I thought I'd go into chord inversions a bit for you guys. There are pictures to help for anybody who falls asleep at the mere thought of music theory.

I'm going to be working in the scale of C major.

So, that's C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C

The first picture here (below), is every chord contained in the scale of C major. The green chords are what are considered to be their strongest voicings and is their natural form.



In order the green chords are C major, D minor, E minor, F Major, G Major, A Minor, B Diminished.

The blue chords are the same chords in their first inversion, their 2nd strongest voicing. In order they are C major (1st inversion), D minor (1st inversion), E minor (1st inversion), F Major (1st inversion), G Major (1st inversion), A Minor (1st inversion), B Diminished (1st inversion).

The pink chords are the same chords again in their third inversion, their weakest voicing of the three possible inversions we're looking at here. In order they are C major (2nd inversion), D minor(2nd inversion), E minor(2nd inversion), F Major(2nd inversion), G Major(2nd inversion), A Minor(2nd inversion), B Diminished(2nd inversion).

So why look at chord inversions?

Well, for a start they open up a whole new world of possibilities in terms of the sounds you can create and the harmonic textures you can work with.

Let's take the standard chord progression I-IV-iii. When you play this chord progression (C Major-G Major- E Minor) using the green chords it sounds ok, but it can feel a little clunky, or maybe while it sounds nice it's just not the atmosphere you're going for.

Here's I-IV-iii using the green chords:



Enter chord inversions.

Here's another chord sequence, this time it's I-V-IV using chord inversions. Here I've voiced I-V-IV using chord inversions, so my chord progression here is C Major - G major 2nd inversion - F Major 2nd inversion) Here we get a completely different sound that you can't really get without using inversions. There's very little movement but a really massively different texture is achieved:



Anyway, this is just a simple example of a use for some simple chord inversions. They're very fun to play with and you can get some great atmospheres going that you just can't achieve using regular chords.

Sorry again if I've babbled incoherent jibbrish and this is too confusing to take anything away from. I've tried to simplify it, hopefully I've succeeded. If not, I apologize.

On point as per usual bro. Feeling new track with trpwre too.

Nice,

But there is a mistake in the "green chords" picture.
Chords are "C / F / E" and not "C / G / F"

These make my head hurt, I'm no good with fast notes!

well, the chords in the second picture are C F Em, which is not I V IV at all. and anyway arent you talking about I IV V and not I V IV? I IV V makes a lot more sense, V is the dominant chord. Sorry for being a tnuc and ruining this, and sorry if im wrong .

Plasticsun wrote:well, the chords in the second picture are C F Em, which is not I V IV at all. and anyway arent you talking about I IV V and not I V IV? I IV V makes a lot more sense, V is the dominant chord. Sorry for being a tnuc and ruining this, and sorry if im wrong .

Yea, you were right, just checked it, my bad, sorry everyone, was trying to help people but I guess I didn't re-read this post thouroughly enough to check for mistakes. I've edited the main post.

Although, on the point of 1-5-4 vs 1-4-5, nothing wrong with using either. 1-4-5 makes more sense for establishing tonality but 1-5-4 is still a nice, usable and effective chord sequence.

But yea, I botched it up a bit. I've edited it. Sorry to anybody who read it before the edit. Really. I dunno, I was tired, thought I was doing some good but clearly I missed the mistakes. I've fixed it now though.

kaiori breathe wrote:

Plasticsun wrote:well, the chords in the second picture are C F Em, which is not I V IV at all. and anyway arent you talking about I IV V and not I V IV? I IV V makes a lot more sense, V is the dominant chord. Sorry for being a tnuc and ruining this, and sorry if im wrong .

Yea, you were right, just checked it, my bad, sorry everyone, was trying to help people but I guess I didn't re-read this post thouroughly enough to check for mistakes. I've edited the main post.

Although, on the point of 1-5-4 vs 1-4-5, nothing wrong with using either. 1-4-5 makes more sense for establishing tonality but 1-5-4 is still a nice, usable and effective chord sequence.

But yea, I botched it up a bit. I've edited it. Sorry to anybody who read it before the edit. Really. I dunno, I was tired, thought I was doing some good but clearly I missed the mistakes. I've fixed it now though.

Don't worry man, at least you tried, while im just sitting her and being a prick correcting everybody else .
As for the 1-4-5 vs. 1-5-4, then youre right . But well, 1-4/2-5-1 is more standard, at least for establishing tonality i guess? But it does'nt mean a lot in this case anyway.

Plasticsun wrote: Don't worry man, at least you tried, while im just sitting her and being a prick correcting everybody else .
As for the 1-4-5 vs. 1-5-4, then youre right . But well, 1-4/2-5-1 is more standard, at least for establishing tonality i guess? But it does'nt mean a lot in this case anyway.

Better you correct it than somebody ends up learning something wrong lol, well it's fixed now anyway. Thanks man

*posting to find again*

kaiori breathe wrote:Better you correct it than nowaysj ends up learning something wrong

Fixed

nowaysj wrote:

kaiori breathe wrote:Better you correct it than nowaysj ends up learning something wrong

Fixed

I lol'd