Chord inversions

AndieZ

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Do we use chord inversions in guitar and uke playing?

If so, are they used often? or just for very advanced players?

Or - What sort of players use them often? beginner, intermediate, advanced and what styles of music use them more often?

I am trying to understand if I need to be solid in this point of music theory for my instrument playing and should I ever progress to trying to write songs, would i use them then.

For the benefit of anyone who doesn't know what a chord inversion is and wants to understand this topic at all. A chord inversion is a rearrangement of the notes in the basic chord structure. The notes of the chord are the same but they are played at a higher or lower pitch. The basic chord structure is known as a triad in root position - according to the music theory course i'm currently trying to do.

https://www.coursera.org/learn/edinburgh-music-theory/lecture/GsztE/chord-inversions
 
Do we use them? Of course! They are used more often than you think whether you are aware of it or not, especially on reentrant uke. A lot of common "first position" chords are really inversions: A, Am, G, Gm, F, B, Bb. Most C, D, and E based chords are not inverted because the root note is on the lowest (3rd) string but the others have the root note on a higher pitched string and thus are either first or second inversion.
 
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Thanks Jim.

One thing though, what do you mean by " Most C, D and E based chords are not inert end". It sounds like you have some typos here or i'm just missing something syntactically. What does this phrase mean.

Anyway if they are inversions, why do people refer to them as first positions. To be honest, on this point of first position, when i've seen this mentioned before I did not know what people were talking about and guess that they meant it was the version of the chord lowest down the fret. Ie on frets 1-4.

Perhaps their usage of "first position" in uke speak is actually what i'm guessing at or do you really think they all mean the music theory term such as the way you've used it.
 
My understanding of first position is those chords that start at/use the nut, so will be using different notes for some chords between high G & low G, & therefore, giving an inversion. The main difference, I think, with using inversions is to get a slightly different sound into your chord, the last string to be strummed.
 
To clarify things a bit, "root position" and inversions tell you something about intervallic structure whereas "first position" tells you something about finger placement and fret numbers.

As you know, when a chord is in "root position", its root is the lowest tone in the chord. Any time a tone other than the root of a chord is the lowest tone in that chord, then the chord is inverted, and if it's a triad chord, it will be in either "first inversion" or "second inversion".

"First position", on the other hand, refers to chords played using the nut and without extending travelling up the neck beyond fret 4 or 5 (I don't know the exact boundaries for "first position").

A knowledge of inversions is certainly helpful. Did you know that a C chord in root position and a C chord in first inversion have different flavors? In root position, the C and E are a major third apart where in second inversion they are a minor sixth apart. Differences such as these create subtle changes in the flavors of the various inversions of each chord, and you can use these to your advantage.

As an example, consider the common I-IV-V progression C F G. If each chord were in root position and had no doubled or octaved notes, the fingering for a re-entrant tuned uke would be: 000X(C) 2X13(F) 0X75(G). Play this a few times, then compare it to the standard first position fingerings: 0003 2010 0232. Now try the same thing, except with C F G F.

When the chords are all in root position, the lowest note leaps from C to F then skips over to G. This creates a lot of movement, particularly in the bass line. Also, the flavor of each chord is very similar. By changing the F and G chords to second inversion, the bass line becomes a string of Cs and Ds, and the contrast in flavor between the second inversion V chord and root position I chord really makes the C chord feel like "home".

Both versions of the same progression have their strengths. Intelligent use of inversions crops up all over the place, especially wherever voice leading concepts are used (common practice music, jazz...the list goes on), so if this topic interests you, study, experiment and innovate. A good place to start would be the ubiquitous II-V-I progressions in jazz.
 
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Anyway David you did a good job of clarifying that for me.

Uke you lost me here.
so will be using different notes for some chords between high G & low G, & therefore, giving an inversion.
But nevermind. Its all good I'm clear on the first position now and on the question I asked. I'm only just learning these terms and things in my theory course so of course the terminology hasn't fully settled in properly yet.

Also dAvid I think i would use "flavour" rather than "texture" or at least that's the terminology used in my course but i think we mean the same thing. In the course they use "colour" and "flavour" for what I thnk you mean by texture. It's a very good course and they do demonstrate the effect of inversions. In fact tonight i've been learning more about cadences.

But it will be fun playing around with chord inversions on my uke once I get back to it. I did actually pick it up last night and the only reason I'm not doing it now is because I'm doing this and focusing my music stuff on the course itself. Playing about with inversions is not something i will be able to do without working at it.
 
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Chord inversions simply indicate the lowest sounding note of a chord. Triads (three notes) have 2 inversions and a root position; Seventh chords (four notes) have 3 inversions and a root position.

Take C Major: C E G

If you play a chord where C is the lowest sounding note, regardless of the other notes, that is a root position chord.

If you play a chord where E is the lowest sounding note, regardless of the other notes, that is a 1st inversion chord.

If you play a chord where G is the lowest sounding note, regardless of the other notes, that is a 2ns inversion chord.

With reentrant tuning, the 3rd string would determine inversion based on the fact that it is the lowest string.

If you play the most common chord shapes:

C is a root position chord
D is a root position chord
E is a root position chord
F is a second inversion chord
G is a second inversion chord
A is a first inversion chord
B is a first inversion chord

By the way, the diminished 7ths get tricky because they have 4 notes that are a minor third (interval) apart, giving them four possible names...and again, whichever is the lowest sounding note (3rd string) would determine the inversion.

Now here's the trick...if you use moveable chords or alternative chord shapes, you can change the inversion of a chord on a ukulele.

0003 is C in root position, 5 4 3 3 is C in its first inversion, 9 7 8 7 is C in its second inversion

I think someone said that each (simple) chord ultimately has 26 or some such different combinations on the fretboard...each of those will be in root, 1st, or 2nd position.

Other than in cases when used with the word "root", the word "position" with a string player usually refers to the hand's position on the fingerboard. If you play violin, you learn how to switch between those positions to get to different notes.

With the casual nature of the ukulele, most players simply stay in the first position, following the common chord shapes in the books. There are a lot of players, particularly on UU, that are more like graduate or post-graduate students, using the entire neck of the ukulele. Neither is wrong. But I haven't yet come across a guide that shows specific "positions" on the neck of a ukulele...they might be out there. Graduate work on the ukulele seems to involve moveable chord shapes and picking patterns that eventually result in a combination of melody, harmony, and rhythm all at the same time.
 
"Mastering Chord Inversions for Ukulele" by Mark Kailana Nelson has 1,000 chord diagrams and 37 full-sized fingerboard charts. Each chord appears in several forms that move up the neck.

I'm not quite two years into playing ukulele and am just grasping chord inversions and understanding their usefulness. Not too long ago I avoided them if possible, mostly due to lack of understanding but also the skill in using them. Moving beyond strumming into chord-melody and fingerstyle playing has led to a need/desire to use and understand chord inversions and spend time in the previously avoided real estate up the neck of the ukulele. They've made a huge difference in my enjoyment of the ukulele.
 
I play them a lot. I understand them fairly well from the point of actually playing them. I can not articulate what they are or how they work, but then that is more of a of a mental exercise rather than a practical approach. I say that because I think that they are actually a simple concept as long as you don't think about them too much. I discovered inversions early on, just noodling around, and later someone was explaining them and I realized that was what they were. But for me it is just about sound, and where you want to go with the sound. Without inversions, you are somewhat limited in where you can go, and things get redundant. Inversions are great for putting a little pazazz into the tune, and a good way to dazzle your audience a little.
 
wow Rlink, i'm impressed that you stumbled up them this way and seem to know what they are. I had never ever heard the term before. Apart from knowing how to play them, chords have been a complete mystery to me until know. I think if you understand the why and the what of it, you might find you could do more than you could before - such have more control when composing/writing a song. Instead of stumbling around, you could know how to achieve what you want so long as you know what you are trying to achieve.

I think you might like the course i'm doing. It doesn't take long. Its supposed to be a 6 or 7 week course but I'm up to week 5 in a week I think. That said, it isn't easy. You have to pay attention and try to absorb every single word they say and I think that's why it seems hard. They don't waste words. They don't repeat themselves but all the other students seem to enjoy it too. If so go Coursera, then choose Fundamentals of Music Theory. If you miss this one, you can start again on 5 December. They give you links to fabulous stuff like this too... https://www.musictheory.net/exercises

Choirguy, you make me laugh by using the word simple. I am not yet at a point where i could agree with you, even if i understand that the lowest note is the name of the chord. We're doing inversions where instead of the root note just going up, we have to figure out what chord it is when the top note is going down or something like that.

I can't process your whole post tonight. It will have to be in days ahead. Its too late now and I should be sleeping.
 
I'm glad the you are impressed, but there isn't anything impressive about it. I am not an anti music theory person. I work at it same as many do, and I think that understanding music is very useful. But understanding music theory is not the end all. I also listen a lot. I make noises on my ukuele. I move chords up and down the neck not to identify what inversion of what chord I'm playing, but just to see what sounds I can go up and down the neck, and often times I will find the sound that I want first, then go back and figure out what chord it is. I'm about expressing myself. Inversions are a great way to express yourself in your music. I would recommend experimenting with them.
 
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One thing though, what do you mean by " Most C, D and E based chords are not inert end".
Dang autocorrect. Inverted is what I meant. Fixed. I think others have answered the difference between position (loosely the fret where your index finger is "covering") and inversion (the order of notes in a chord) but I'll be happy to clarify if there is still confusion there
 
"Mastering Chord Inversions for Ukulele" by Mark Kailana Nelson has 1,000 chord diagrams and 37 full-sized fingerboard charts. Each chord appears in several forms that move up the neck.

Anyone know if the "Mastering Chord Inversions..." book has practice progressions and/or studies for the chord inversions? All I can see is the table of contents which does not mention anything about inversion practice.

Ed
 
Andie: I learned from a Paul Hemmings workshop that chord inversions come in handy when you want to play chord melodies. It is do-able for beginners but definitely intermediate players and above should be able to handle it.

Luke
 
Anyone know if the "Mastering Chord Inversions..." book has practice progressions and/or studies for the chord inversions? All I can see is the table of contents which does not mention anything about inversion practice.

Ed

I'm not sure about Mastering Chord Inversions but Ukulele Fretboard Roadmaps may have some of what you're looking for.
 
While it's good to have a grasp on what inversions are for musical knowledge's sake, just knowing how the different chord shapes line up on the fretboard will be much more useful to you musically.

If you search the internet and learn the C A G F D pattern up the neck you'll be much farther ahead than trying to 'use' inversions - they happen naturally because of the ukes high tuning.

Chord inversion studies are suited best for keyboards and guitar type instruments. On the uke we don't have any bass notes so as long as the notes of the chord are present it will work musically.
 
You probably don't need a thousand diagrams to understand chord inversions. Mark Nelson has on his website free downloadable study sheets that will probably take you further than you ever want to go. I found these chord study sheets invaluable. Essentially it shows you the movable shapes and notates where the root of the chord is.

Here's a link to the page where he has free materials. http://mark-o.com/free-ukulele-tab/
From here you can download common chord inversions and chord studies.

Be kind to yourself. It is not something you will grasp immediately. If you are interested and want to learn these things slowly they will sink into your consciousness and you will be able to apply them to your playing.
 
A few of us here on the Underground have taken that course: University of Edinburgh - Fundamentals of Music Theory. It's really good. Graded assignments all the way through, and just challenging enough to stretch you without losing you. Though you'll need a calculator for working out what is the precise length of a double-dotted 64th note! And watch out in the final exam for the fact that 2-note intervals (dyads) are treated as implying chords (triads) for the purposes of analysing cadences!
 
I did the Associated Board Grade 6 theory, mainly to better understand and be able to use harmony more effectively. The harmony it covered was very much classical 4 part harmony SATB harmony you'd use for choirs or keyboard accompaniment to songs. Hymn book harmony, I've heard it called. It covered basic chord structures and inversions, mainly I, IV V7 harmony and how the minor was shoehorned into that basic harmonic structure. Still a very useful grounding which I am able to use and adapt to practical situations. One interesting thing was an introduction to figured bass - a harmony technique from the Baroque era (roughly 17th & first half of 18th century). It was their equivalent to our writing chords above the melody line. They wrote numbers under a bass line which told you what intervals to play above the bass to form the chords. One thing it did do was make explicit not just the chords but which inversions to use as the note in the bass line was always the lowest note in the chord. The idea was a keyboard or plucked string player would play an accompaniment based on the harmonies given by the figured bass while a bass instrument (cello, bass viol, bassoon or other bass instrument would play the bass line itself). Something a pianist or guitarist accompanying singers or melody instruments would do today using a lead sheet.
 
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