Transcript for: Exploring Chord Inversions in Music Theory
Hi, I'm Gareth Green, and in this video, we're going to think about chord inversions. So first of all, let's be happy about chords. So I've picked a key. The key is F major, and I've just written the first seven notes of the scale of F major because that gives us the basis on which we can find our chords. So in order to construct the basic chords, we're going to put a third and a fifth above each note of the scale. So that just sorts out what the chords are. And from this, you'll see why I haven't completed the scale with a top F because F at the top, well, it's the same note as F at the bottom even though it's in a different octave, so it's going to give us the same chord. So it's a bit redundant in terms of finding chords. And then we are going to number these in Roman numerals. So that gives me what we call the diatonic chords for the key. So if I'm in F major, here's the scale of F major. I put a third and a fifth on top of each note. Here come the chords. I, II, III, IV, V, VI, and VII. Okay. When I want to put a chord into four-part harmony, of course you might notice I've only got three notes in a chord. How do I turn that into four notes? By doubling one of the notes. So let's, for example, imagine we're going to start with chord I and say I organise the chord so it looks like this. So you can see what I've done. I've used these notes, F, A, C. So there's F in the bass, there's also F in the alto. So I've doubled the F, A at the top, C in the tenor. So just doubling a note turns that from three into four parts. There are rules of engagement about what you double and what you don't, but I'm not worrying too much about that in this video. We covered that elsewhere for those who want to know about it. So we say that this is chord I because it's based on that triad from I, and we say this is in root position because F, the lowest note of that original triad, is the lowest sounding note of that chord. Okay, well, what happens if I want to use chord I, but instead of having F at the bottom, I want to have A at the bottom? Okay, let's reorganise it like that. So we'll have A at the bottom now, and I'll keep the C in the tenor, and I'll keep the F in the alto. But this time, just for variety, we'll have C in the soprano, which also shows you that this time, instead of doubling up on the F, I've doubled up on the C. C in the soprano, C in the tenor. So it's still F, A, two Cs. So it's still chord I, but this time, because I've got the middle note of the chord, the third of the chord, as the lowest sounding note, I say that this is chord I in first inversion. Now this causes confusion because some people get this far with chords and they look at this A in the bass and they say, oh, well if it's got A at the bottom, it must be chord III. Well, it can't be chord III because chord III should have A, C, and E in it and this has got F, A, and C in it. So the first thing is when you're trying to find what a chord is, ask yourself, what are the notes inside the chord and which of these triads fully describes what's going on? So it's definitely chord I. So we can say it's using the notes of chord I, but we say it's in first inversion because it's using the middle note or the third of the triad as the lowest sounding note. Now, if you come from the UK or anywhere in the world that follows that same UK tradition, you will call that Ib. So the "I" says it's chord I. The "b" says it's in first inversion, by which we mean that A is the lowest sounding note. If you live in the US or in any part of the world that's following the US convention, you'll call that "I" and you'll call it "6". That's how the first inversion is denoted there. Okay, well, say I decide I want to use chord I but I want to put it in second inversion. Well, you've already guessed it, I'm sure. It's going to be the F, A, C notes again, but I'm going to have C as the lowest sounding note. So let's put that C in first. So say I have C in the bass, and then we'll reorganise things a little bit. Maybe like that this time. So I've doubled the C again, but I've got the F and the A up here. So first thing is, which are the notes F, A, C, which chord is that that has F, A, C? Chord I. So we can definitely label that chord I. And then we say, which of these notes is the lowest sounding note, the F, the A, the C, the root, the third, or the fifth. And of course, it's the fifth. It's that C. So in the UK tradition, we would call that Ic. In the US tradition, this would be called I6,4. And that's how you deal with the inversion situation. Now, I question that's commonly asked is, well, what's the purpose of chord inversions? Why do we need to bother with them? Well, if you had a piece of music where every single chord was in root position, it would be a bit tedious after a while. So using inversions gives us a little bit of variety. It means we can kind of change different things in different places. I mean, if I've got C in the soprano part for the second chord here, well, I can use chord I in any inversion, but C is also in chord III so I could use chord III, couldn't I? C is also in chord V so I could use chord V, and then you've not only got III chords you can choose from, but you've got III inversions for each of these chords. Generally speaking, you'll find more root position chords than anything else. And you'll find that second inversion chords are the least commonly used. There are reasons for that. We don't need to get too bogged down in here because we're just really trying to get this idea about chord inversions, but fundamentally it's this. If I put chord I in root position, it sounds quite happy on its own. If I put it in first inversion, it sounds quite happy on its own. If I put it in second inversion, it doesn't sound quite complete. Now the format I've got is what I've laid out here because it always wants to go somewhere. Do you feel that that chord kind of wants to resolve somewhere? So, second inversions don't feel quite complete on their own whereas root positions and first inversions do feel pretty complete on their own. So really the idea of inversions is to create variety. We can choose from a number of different chords, but we can also choose from these different inversions. But more root position than anything else with a smattering of first inversions is quite handy, and the second inversions use rather more occasionally. And with that thought in mind that the second inversion chords often need some kind of special treatment. They need some kind of resolution. So that's the purpose of having the chord inversions. And hopefully I've explained how you would write chord inversions, and also when people say, well, how can I tell whether a chord is in an inversion or not? Well, it's a question of looking at the chord, deciding what the notes are, therefore, which chord are we describing, and then thinking, well, which inversion is that in? So if, for example, I write this chord, I'll show you just how to do that. So there is a chord. So my first job, remember, is to work out which of these triads describes this chord. So I've got an E, a C, a G, a C. So, which is the chord that describes all that? Well, if you have a look at V, C, E, G accounts for all of these notes. So it must be a chord V. So we can say, first of all, it's chord V. Once you've got the right chord, then ask yourself what the inversion is. In other words, if chord V is C, E, G, which is the lowest sounding note? Is it C, the root? Is it E the third? Is it G the fifth? Well, it's E, isn't it? Which means it must be in first inversion. So it's a Vb chord, or it's a V6 chord. When a chord is in root position, we would call it "a", but because there are so many of those around, if we just see a chord number like I, you can assume it's in root position. But if you want to write "a", you can do so we could write this, and in the US tradition, you could write this, "I" with a "5,3". But we're assuming if it's I without anything after it, it's in root position. But if you see Ib or I6, or you see Ic or I6,4, then that tells you about the inversion. So hopefully this explains what chord inversions are about, how you construct them, how you would recognise them, how they add a bit of variety to the music. So if you're composing and you're in the habit of choosing chords and they're always in root position, well, you might think about using a few inversions. If you're playing music and you want to understand what the chords are, hopefully now you'll feel slightly more empowered to do that. Look at any given chord, work out what the notes are, think about which chord describes it from the triads, then locate the inversion and you're home and dry with inversion chords, so enjoy inversion chords. And if you've kind of found that interesting but you've still got questions about chords and harmony and what all this is about, you might want to go to the Music Matters website, www.mmcourses.co.uk, where you'll find our advanced theory course, for example. That covers much more on chords and goes a lot further than we've gone today. If you want to get it under your fingers, well, we've got a keyboard harmony course that helps you to do all this at the keyboard. If you're wanting to train your ear and really be able to hear what these chords are about, well, we have an aural dictation course. Lots of other things out there as well that you might want to look at. And if you're a musician who would really value the opportunity to share a bit of your musical life with others, you might also have a look at our Maestros group. Again, there's something you can click on on the homepage saying Maestros where we have monthly live streams where we meet together for an opportunity each month to share music that we might be playing or composing, where we can learn something, and that might be of interest to you. So if you want to do that, have a look at Maestros, but have a look at the courses that would build on stuff we've just covered in that video.