Chord Inversions and Voice Leading

So you think you know all your chords? Great, now it's time to learn about chord inversions.

This isn't too complicated to understand, but it does take some time to really be comfortable inverting all the different chords you know.

So if you play a C major triad the normal way with the note C on the bottom, you are playing C major in the ROOT POSITION.

If you move the note C to the top so that E (the third) is the bottom note, then you are playing C major in the FIRST INVERSION.

Accordingly, if you move the note E to the top and G (the fifth) is the bottom note, then you are playing C major in the SECOND INVERSION.

So to sum this up, the root position has the root note on the bottom. The first inversion has the third degree on the bottom. The second inversion has the fifth degree on the bottom.

With a seventh chord you could have the seventh degree as the bottom note which would be the THIRD INVERSION.

Here's it all illustrated:

So why are chord inversions good to know?

Well if you are playing chords on the piano or guitar, or you are playing a melody line through multiple chords, or you are a bass player looking for some new ways to play some new bass lines without jumping from root note to root note (though that does sound good), you should VOICE LEAD chords! So if you are playing a C chord followed by a G chord, don't play them both in root position having to jump up five scale degrees. Instead, play the G chord in the first inversion.

Voice leading is using chord inversions to play chords with also little "jumping around" as possible.

Here's the chords of verse of the classic tune, 'Can't Help Falling in Love' with every chord in root position: