You would already be familiar with chord triads if you’ve been reading from the beginning of this blog series on learning the keyboard. We’ve covered the C Major, F Major, G Major, and A Minor triad so far. Now we’ll explore the concept of chord inversions.

Let’s take the C Major triad for starters. From the middle C position, place your thumb and other fingers (1-3-5) (C-E-G) accordingly. Chord inversions basically involve rotation, that is, for the C Major chord, instead of C-E-G, play E-G-C, and then G-C-E.

The same thing works in the descending order as well, that is rotation in the opposite direction. You get G-C-E, and then E-G-C. How do we name these different chord inversions? When you’re starting from C and playing C-E-G, that is known as the root position for the chord. E-G-C, that we played earlier, becomes the 1st inversion of the chord, and G-C-E the 2nd inversion.

Chord inversions work pretty much the same way for both major and minor chords. Try this with the A Minor chord that you’ve learnt before. In the root position, it would be A-C-E. The 1st inversion is played as C-E-A, and the 2nd inversion as E-A-C.

So, what is the purpose behind all these inversions and why do we need them if we have the basic triads already in place? To appreciate this better, play two pieces which are quite similar except for one chord inversion. First play the chord progression C-G-Am-F. Now use the chord inversion only for the C Major chord, specifically the 2nd inversion. Play C (2nd inversion)-G-Am-F. You’ll hear the difference in sound, despite keeping G, Am, and F unchanged in their root position.

What has essentially happened is the harmony of the song has completely changed with just that one chord inversion. You should explore every inversion of each chord in the C Major scale – that is C Major, D Minor, E Minor, F Major, G Major, and A Minor, so you get a good understanding and expertise in chord inversions.

Don’t forget the three positions for every chord – root, 1st inversion, and 2nd inversion. In the upcoming post, we move on to the concept of time signatures in music, which is especially important for any budding musician or keyboardist.