Chord Inversions – Learn how to Invert Piano Chords and Play them on the Piano

Hi! Welcome to the chord inversions page.

On this page you will learn how to invert chords and to play them on your piano.

First let us take a look on the term "inversion".

The word inversion means to rearrange or modify by reversing the direction of pitch. In other words it means to turn the notes of a harmonic interval upside down or in opposite position.

Based on the information given above we can say chord inversion is the process of rearrange notes in a different order from the root or original position.

The concepts of inverting chords are not new. Famous piano, harpsichord and organ players have used it for years. When chords are inverted it makes the music sounds very interesting.

There are different types of inversion as it relate to chords.
However, the number of notes that are included in a specific chord will determine how many inversions exist. For example a triad is made up of three notes; therefore a triad can be inverted two times. When a triad is played on the piano keyboard it can be represent in three positions; the root (or original), 1st inversion and 2nd inversion.

Here is an illustration below.

When a chord is made of four notes, that specific chord can be inverted three times. The chord in its original position is not included. For example CMaj7 is a four tone chord (C E G B). Therefore it has a 1st, 2nd and 3rd inversion.

Let us take a look at the formula used in chord inversions?

When you are inverting a chord all you have to do is move the note that is at the beginner of the chord to a higher octave. Let us use the F major triad as an example.

The F triad in its root position is F A C. To create the 1st inversion for this chord you just need to put the root note (F) at the top – A C F. The 2nd inversion is created from the 1st inversion by moving A to the top – C F A.

The method illustrated above applies to all chords whether they are major, minor, diminished or augmented.

It is very important that you take some time to practice chord inversions in all the keys on the piano. Try to use them when playing different songs. As you use more them frequently you will realize that it is easy to apply them to any song on your piano.

Do you enjoy participating in the lessons put together for you on this website?

Then take a look at some other related piano chords lessons.

Chord Theory

Major Chord Theory

How to Construct Minor Chords

Diminished Chords

Augmented Chords

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