Understanding Chord Inversions - Music Composition

What are chord inversions? How do we write them? How do we identify chord inversions and why do we need them? Refresh your knowledge of the diatonic chords and 7ths within any key and understand how chords can be presented in their various inversions. Specific examples are given at each stage and the descriptions of chords are explained in the Roman Numeral system, both combined with letters and with Figured Bass descriptions in the two internationally recognised systems, as well as being illustrated in lead sheet style. A useful video if you want to get a grip on inversion chords, how they work, how to label them, with tips on which inversion to use where.
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🕘 Timestamps
0:00 - Introduction to chord inversions
0:19 - Building basic triads
2:31 - Root position
3:33 - First inversion
7:10 - Second inversion
10:06 - More examples of inversions
13:30 - Seventh chords
18:54 - Differences in notation around the world
20:28 - Why do we have chord inversions?
20:57 - Conclusion
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Пікірлер: 52

  • @MusicMattersGB
    @MusicMattersGB2 жыл бұрын

    Learn Music Online - Check out our courses here! www.mmcourses.co.uk/courses

  • @Elephantine999
    @Elephantine999 Жыл бұрын

    I am just finishing an arrangement of an old melody for the guitar. It's nothing fancy, but it sounds nice, I have thoroughly enjoyed the process, and it's something that I never even would have thought of doing before watching your videos. Not just that, but I now hear and appreciate and enjoy subtleties in the music that I listen to (a nice harmony, for example) that I never even *noticed* before, let alone appreciated. So thanks a million for these wonderful videos. You are a masterful teacher!

  • @MusicMattersGB

    @MusicMattersGB

    Жыл бұрын

    I’m glad it’s all helpful. Well done with your piece. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk

  • @westwellbagpipes369
    @westwellbagpipes369 Жыл бұрын

    Who would have thought that, in a twenty minute period on a rainy and overcast Edinburgh Friday night in March, I would get a solid understanding of a concept that had been at the back of my mind to explore for over 30 years. Thank you.

  • @MusicMattersGB

    @MusicMattersGB

    Жыл бұрын

    A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk

  • @stephenbashforth8257
    @stephenbashforth8257 Жыл бұрын

    Hi Gareth, I like the way you make all your videos so accessible to anyone - from those just beginning with music or music theory and for those with some experience. The seventh - it might be worth pointing out that in lead sheet notation any chord with a minor seventh is a "7" chord. A dominant seventh is X7, eg G7 (G B D F) a minor 7th chord is Xmin7 ,eg Dmin7 (D F A C). If in a major scale it were a I chord with a 7th it would be a maj 7 chord - so for example Cmaj7.

  • @MusicMattersGB

    @MusicMattersGB

    Жыл бұрын

    Most kind. Absolutely re the 7ths. That’s helpful clarification.

  • @jayducharme
    @jayducharme Жыл бұрын

    Very clear explanation! Thank you.

  • @MusicMattersGB

    @MusicMattersGB

    Жыл бұрын

    A pleasure.

  • @hientunnell8572
    @hientunnell8572 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you so much!! It helps greatly!! ❤

  • @MusicMattersGB

    @MusicMattersGB

    Жыл бұрын

    That’s great. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk

  • @SalimSivaad
    @SalimSivaad Жыл бұрын

    Thanks so much for your explanation of I6 chords. So many times I’ve seen that and thought they meant simply add a sixth to a tonic chord (like CEGA).

  • @MusicMattersGB

    @MusicMattersGB

    Жыл бұрын

    That’s great. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk

  • @yinwong858
    @yinwong858 Жыл бұрын

    another amazing lesson! finally got to know more about adding the 7th note to a chord. kind of getting the theory (by pausing it many times to figure out what's happening) , and gonna apply it when practice. thanks a lot!

  • @MusicMattersGB

    @MusicMattersGB

    Жыл бұрын

    A pleasure. Plenty of videos on our KZread channel and much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk

  • @carlstenger5893
    @carlstenger5893 Жыл бұрын

    Great video. Thanks!

  • @MusicMattersGB

    @MusicMattersGB

    Жыл бұрын

    That’s most kind of you

  • @GuitSiva
    @GuitSiva Жыл бұрын

    Good job.. 👌🙏Warm cheers😘

  • @MusicMattersGB

    @MusicMattersGB

    Жыл бұрын

    Glad it’s useful. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk

  • @josephinebrown6631
    @josephinebrown6631 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you kindly🤍

  • @MusicMattersGB

    @MusicMattersGB

    Жыл бұрын

    😀

  • @BrianKlobyGuitar
    @BrianKlobyGuitar Жыл бұрын

    Fantastic :)

  • @MusicMattersGB

    @MusicMattersGB

    Жыл бұрын

    That’s great. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk

  • @bazarista4720
    @bazarista4720 Жыл бұрын

    thank you

  • @MusicMattersGB

    @MusicMattersGB

    Жыл бұрын

    A pleasure. Thanks for your support

  • @timdovecool7202
    @timdovecool7202 Жыл бұрын

    Sir, thanks for the great video, kindly, for visibility purpose, try to enlarge the board, the writtings are very tiny. Thanks

  • @MusicMattersGB

    @MusicMattersGB

    Жыл бұрын

    Thank you. It’s as large as we can get it. The answer is to view it on a larger screen if you can.

  • @martinbennett2228
    @martinbennett2228 Жыл бұрын

    In printed music, the figured bass always seems to use numbers and accidentals. I don't recall seeing letters. I had just assumed that composers such as Handel supplied numbers, but is this editorial? What system did baroque composers use in their manuscripts?

  • @MusicMattersGB

    @MusicMattersGB

    Жыл бұрын

    Baroque composers used Figured Bass. The Roman Numeral system followed later.

  • @martinbennett2228

    @martinbennett2228

    Жыл бұрын

    ​@@MusicMattersGB Thanks, I guess it is more of a teaching rather than a compositional practice then. Incidentally I read somewhere that Bruckner continued to figure his harmonies, which must have got quite complex, given all the harmonic ambiguities (he also practised on a clavichord).

  • @MusicMattersGB

    @MusicMattersGB

    Жыл бұрын

    😀

  • @nguyenyang9854
    @nguyenyang98543 ай бұрын

    I write chord Cmaj7b in key C major ( E - G - B - C and a E on top line), is the E still the major third of that chord? Did I make a mistake in doubling the major third?

  • @MusicMattersGB

    @MusicMattersGB

    3 ай бұрын

    Presumably you mean Bb. Yes the major 3rd has been doubled.

  • @nguyenyang9854

    @nguyenyang9854

    3 ай бұрын

    @@MusicMattersGB Not Bb, I mean in key C major, i go Imaj7 > Imaj7b, now the bass is E and the melody also E. Did I make a mistake in doubling the major third?

  • @MusicMattersGB

    @MusicMattersGB

    3 ай бұрын

    @nguyenyang9854 That is a double major 3rd but if it sounds good use it.

  • @nguyenyang9854

    @nguyenyang9854

    3 ай бұрын

    @@MusicMattersGB Can I do a range above octave form soprano > alto?

  • @MusicMattersGB

    @MusicMattersGB

    3 ай бұрын

    @nguyenyang9854 The same situation applies

  • @Silks
    @Silks Жыл бұрын

    I really wish we all used the a, b, c system. It's much more straightforward

  • @MusicMattersGB

    @MusicMattersGB

    Жыл бұрын

    It’s lovely and simple

  • @francoisbruel9163

    @francoisbruel9163

    Жыл бұрын

    I agree, it can look like all these different systems are confusing. The "figured bass" system (like 6/4) is historical, as in fact the notion of chords and invertions like we think of them now, was only theorized in the early 18th. First by Rameau in 1722. Before that, harmony was entirely described as intervals between voices, because that is where polyphonic music comes from. If you deal with baroque musique, you'll have figured bass, big time!

  • @MusicMattersGB

    @MusicMattersGB

    Жыл бұрын

    😀

  • @kierenmoore3236
    @kierenmoore3236 Жыл бұрын

    I thought the figured bass numbers ‘mapped out’ all the notes of the chord as it is to be played, but it seems it doesn’t … it doesn’t give you any more information at all than the a,b,c or slash systems … it just looks more complicated than it actually is … 🙃

  • @kierenmoore3236

    @kierenmoore3236

    Жыл бұрын

    … and the figured bass just gets even more unnecessarily/unhelpfully messy with extended chords … 🤢😏

  • @MusicMattersGB

    @MusicMattersGB

    Жыл бұрын

    You can play the notes in any order above the printed bass note. It’s the Baroque system. Once it’s familiar it’s actually quite easy to read and play from.

  • @kierenmoore3236

    @kierenmoore3236

    Жыл бұрын

    @@MusicMattersGB Sure, the Baroque alternatives are distinct enough … it’s just that one extra ‘mark’ next to the chord name (a, b, c etc) is enough to communicate the sole fact (bass note) intended …

  • @MusicMattersGB

    @MusicMattersGB

    Жыл бұрын

    Absolutely

  • @PijanitsaVode
    @PijanitsaVode Жыл бұрын

    Ever tried to explain to a strictly classical person (not necessarily baroque) that it's more rational (with Rameau) to number from the functional, not actual, bass note ? Ouch!

  • @MusicMattersGB

    @MusicMattersGB

    Жыл бұрын

    😀

  • @eissirk
    @eissirk Жыл бұрын

    I'm a bit concerned here. It seems the instructor believes that all diatonic triads will be major? Or maybe he doesn't understand that uppercase/lowercase meanings of the Roman numerals? Students, please review what you have seen here with your actual teachers. The triads in a major key will not all be major, so they should not all be represented with upper case letters. There are some minor triads and even a diminished if you just stack notes on top of each other with no accidentals.

  • @MusicMattersGB

    @MusicMattersGB

    Жыл бұрын

    Don’t worry. I’m well aware of this issue. There are two systems used for labelling chords with Roman Numerals. You are referring to the Extended Roman Numeral system. Here I’m using the Basic Roman Numeral system in which, for simplicity, we label all chords with upper case numerals.

  • @materdeimusicd.buckley2974

    @materdeimusicd.buckley2974

    Жыл бұрын

    For the most part your video is good, but I'm afraid on this occasion I must agree with this comment. I feel it's easier to distinguish the minor tonality visually by using the lower case from the beginning. Maybe it's because I'm visual myself. So for others reading, what this comment means is Major scale is as follows I ii iii IV V vi viidim By looking at this, the I Iv V are very visually impactful, as major chords, as the name major implies. The 3rd being major in the triad. The minor again, looking smaller, as the name implies, indicating the minor 3rd in the triad. The best way to familiarise yourself though, is to play them and listen. I would like to have heard more as this was being explained also. After all, writing music is only a visual graph of the sound.

  • @MusicMattersGB

    @MusicMattersGB

    Жыл бұрын

    It’s a fair comment that this is your preference but experience tells us that many viewers found the Extended Roman system confusing in the first instance so we made a decision to go for Basic Roman. Those who know the Extended system can easily ‘translate’.