Introduction

This tutorial will look at what inversions are, how we create them and how we know what inversion a particular chord voicing is. Then, in the Silver Members tutorial we will expand upon this to look at two methods by which we can notate and identify chord inversions.

What is a Triad?

In an earlier tutorial we covered the construction of triads using stacked thirds so we should be clear on what a triad is.

This stacking of thirds (a Major third and a minor third in the case of a Major triad) results in intervals from the root of

• Root – 1
• Third – 3
• Fifth – 5

Depending upon what quality of triad we have, major, minor, diminished, or augmented, the quality of these intervals will be different, but for the purpose of looking at inversions we will just need to consider the numerical value of the interval, not the quality.

What is an inversion?

An inversion of a triad is the same notes of the triad arranged in a different order, or more specifically with a different note as the bass. We only use the existing notes of the triad.

Since there are three notes in a triad there are three different inversions available to us. We call these three different arrangements of the pitches

• Root position
• First inversion
• Second inversion

We have our three distinct pitches that define our triad. For example, a C Major triad

Root – C

Major third – E

Perfect fifth – G

When the bass note, the lowest pitch of the triad, is the root note the triad is said to be a root position triad. When the third is the bass note the triad is said to be a first inversion, and if the fifth is in the bass we have a second inversion triad.

This same process applies to the minor, diminished, and augmented triads. The following table indicates the inversion, note order, and intervals above the root note, not the same as the bass note, for the C Major triad.

The three inversions of the C Major triad can be seen on the manuscript below.

It is important to note that the order of the upper notes does not change the inversion, it is only which note is present in the bass,

Why use inversions?

Inversions can impart a different sound to the same triad

• Root position – Stable, grounded, home base.
• First inversion – Smoother, lighter, often used for voice‑leading.
• Second inversion – More unstable and is often used in specific contexts

The use of inversions can make the transition between different chords much smoother by reducing the interval between the same voice between two chords.

Afterword

If you wish to learn more about how inversions and how they are identified using slash chord notation or figured bass notation, then please consider subscribing to the silver membership package where a more complete tutorial will be available alongside a downloadable pdf of the tutorial for reference.