In the most basic sense, a chord inversion is a way of reorganizing the notes of a chord. A three-note chord has three basic shapes. Learning these not only allows you to move from one chord to another, it reveals or allows us to generate melodies that connect those chords.
In the root position, the notes are always evenly spaced, but in the first and second inversions, one note is always separated from the heard. Think in terms of there being three patterns, three notes together, one and two, or two and one. In the major key, this allows you to move effortlessly between tonic, subdominant, and dominant, while keeping whichever note you want melodically on top.
And you don’t have to return to the root position. You can move the outer voices of either inversion to move to the other inversion. Whether you join Beat Kitchen to attend our Music Basics elective class for free, or purchase this short chorus as a guest, getting your hands around basic chord movement is going to help you level up your music production.
