Hey guys from Cifra Club, I'm Felipe Lobo and now we're going to have our fourth special theoretical class on the topic of chord formation. In this class, we are going to talk about inverted chords or bass inversions, which is a very interesting resource for us to create variations in chords and produce melodies on the lower strings of the guitar. Well, it is important that, before watching this class, you watch the other classes in this series, starting with the introduction to music theory class and following the entire sequence step by step to stay on top of the theoretical bases to better understand these subjects.
. I also prepared a PDF material that you can download by accessing the link that appears here in the video. Just type it in your browser and download the file.
Let's go! Normally, the lowest note of a chord, the one we call the bass of the chord, should be its fundamental note, which is the note that gives the chord its name. For example, in the major chord.
The lowest note should be the do note, which we play by pressing the A string here at the third fret. Likewise, in the A minor chord, for example, the lowest note should be the A note. We play here by playing the fifth string open.
In the same way, we should try to place its fundamental note as the lowest note in all chords. However, in some cases, we can make chords that have another note as the bass of the chord, this is what we call bass inversion or inverted chord. I'm doing a G major chord, however, I'm not going to play the sixth string.
I'm going to play the chord from the A string, where I'm pressing the second fret to make the note C, which is the major third of this chord. It's the G major chord, however, I'm playing the note C as the lowest note, which is precisely the major third of the chord, which we play So, it's a G major chord, where its third functions as a bass. We then call it sun as low in itself, or simply sun with itself, in a more simplified way.
To represent this chord in the chord, we will use the normal chord chord, which is the capital letter G, followed by a sloping bar and, soon after, the letter B, which represents the note B, which now functions as the bass of the chord. wake up. Chord inversions are divided into three categories, as we will see below.
We call the first invention that chord in which the tense note appears as the lowest note. For example. .
. I'm playing the A chord with bass in C sharp, or simply A with C sharp. We know that the A chord is formed by the notes A, which is its root, C sharp, which is the tense major, and E, which will be its perfect fifth.
So I made A major, but using C sharp as the lowest note, which I can get by pressing the fifth string here at the fourth fret. Now we're going to see some ways to easily play the chords in the first inversion here in some different positions on the guitar. Let's go.
Well, this shape here I'm playing the E string with bass and G sharp, it's a good option for us to play the string in the first inversion with bass on the sixth string, notice I can get the note G sharp by pressing here the fourth fret of the mizone string and the rest of the chord it comes here like this with the E note on the D string, the C note on the G string and an octave of the E note a little higher on the It is important that we only play the notes in this chord that we are pressing here with our left hand, avoiding touching the other strings, because they can give notes that are not part of the chord. If we were careful, we could move this shape across the guitar neck, making any chord major in the first inversion. Here, in the fourth fret, it will be E with bass in G sharp.
If I take it on a house forward, it will be F major with bass in A. And so on, we can move the shape across the entire neck of the guitar, according to the needs of the chord we want to play. Well, there are some variations for this chord.
Let's watch here. This same shape, we can transform it into a minor chord. To do this, just take finger 2 here, move it backwards one space.
So we'll be playing the minor third on the bass. And the chord becomes an E minor with a bass in G. In the same way, we can move this shape along the guitar neck to make the other chords as well.
And the same shape can be used to play tetrad chord inversions. Take a good look. This is an E with bass in G#, correct?
As my little finger is pressing here an octave of the note E, I will require this finger one fret, so it will make the major seventh of the chord. which is the D-sharp note. So we have the E7 major and the bass in G-sharp.
If I move the note on the C string back one more fret, we will have E7 and low G-sharp. I mean, now it's the minor 7th that makes this chord. See, we're going to have to adapt our fingers to leave a position So, to recap, we saw three important ways here.
The shape of the major chord, with the third in the bass. Then, we added the major seventh to this chord, moving one fret behind finger 4. And we can transform it into a minor seventh chord, making this adaptation here on the fingers.
And it is also possible for us to take the initial shape there and just move finger 2 back, and minor with bass in G. Now we will see some variations for playing the chords in the first inversion with bass on the fifth string. Well, let's take the A major form here as a reference.
So I can have the third of the chord in the bass, which is the note C sharp, I'm going to change these fingers here for a barre with finger 1 and I'm going to use finger 3 to press the C sharp. I use A major with bass in C sharp or simply A with C sharp, which is a simpler and more common way of saying the name of this chord. We're going to avoid playing the mish string for this chord.
Well, for us to achieve the variation here and create the minor chord with the tense chord on the bass, using this form, we need to move the note on the fifth string back one fret. There's just one little problem. We also have the third of the chord on the second string.
So we will replace the note on the second string, which is on the second fret, with the note on the fifth fret, which we will press with our little finger. Just look. Also avoiding playing the note on the mish string.
So we have A minor with a bass in C. Another option for playing this string is this little shape here. which is the form of A minor, placing the C note on the 3rd fret of the A string.
Well, we can also get the variations of the tetrads with the third in the bass through this form. See, I'm going to do the A chord here with the bass in sweet tenido and with finger 4 I'm going to press the 4th fret of the M string, playing the major 7th of the chord. So we have the A with a 7th And I can still get the minor conseventh tetra in the first invention with this shape.
We just need to move the note back one more fret. Let's do the A7 and the bass in C. We still have some ways to play the first invention with bass on the fourth string.
See, let's take the D major chord with the bass in F here. It's as if we were playing the D major chord, but I'm pressing it with a little eyelash here, look. And then we will add the 3rd finger, to play the note F sharp on the fourth fret of the D string.
D major with bass in F sharp, or simply D with bass in F sharp. To make the minor chord, we will move the note on the D string back one fret, like this. adapting the position of the fingers here and also the note on the E string moves back one fret, because it is an octave higher than the third of the chord.
So we have a Dm with a bass in F. To get the tetrads using this form, we will assemble the D chord with a bass in Fs, which will become Dm7 and the bass in Fs. If we want the minor seventh, just take the note that is on the single string and move it back half a tone, that is, move it back one fret.
And then we will have this other shape here. R is in the seventh and the bass is in fazes tenidos. Now, don't be scared, there are many different ways for us to decorate.
So, the important thing is to understand the reasoning I am using to arrive at these shapes. And you will be able, whenever necessary, to find the ways to play inverted chords, analyzing the notes on the guitar neck and the variations of the simplest shapes you know. In the second inversion, it is the fifth of the chord that appears as its lowest note.
For example, This is the G major string with the bass in D. See how easy it is to assemble. I started here with the G major form, but without using the two lowest strings.
So we can remove these fingers and play from the fourth string. It is G major with bass in D, or simply G with D. Now we are going to learn some ways to play the string in the second inversion with bass on the sixth string.
Well, look. Here we have the D major with the bass in A. It's very simple, I made the shape of D major here, but I left the nut here on the sixth string so I could play the A which is on the fifth fret of the middle string.
D major with bass in A. Note that I maintained the normal structure of the D major chord when we did it here with the nut on the fifth fret, but I left the nut also pressing the mizone string, where we can note that it is on the fifth fret. If we want the minor variation of this chord, we just need to change the shape below and make that D minor shape.
Look how it looks. D minor with bass in A, or simply D minor with A. If we want to do variations of the tetrads, it's very simple, I'll set up the D7 major chord this way, which is a more familiar form, and let the nut also press the fifth fret of the E string.
D major with major 7 and the bass in A, or simply D7 major and the bass in A. To get the minor seventh, we just need to remove the second finger that is pressing the G string and leave that string pressed on the nut. Re with seventh and the bass in A.
These shapes can be used in any fret on the guitar to make different chords. It could be E with a seventh and bass in B, for example. And so on, it moves here naturally and can be used in any fret of the guitar.
Now let's see what the shapes look like for the second inversion with a bass on the A string. Well, for us to make the major chord here with a bass on the A string, we just need to use this little shape for D major, for example, and play A from the fifth string. In this case, we will have D major with bass in A.
The minor variation of this chord is simple, To move these chords around the neck, we will always release finger 1 so we can make a little finger. With the nut here on the second fret, we will have the E minor with bass in B. Or if we put together the shape of the major chord here, it will be E major with bass in B.
To get the variations here with a major seventh and minor seventh, we just need to move the note on the second string. When I make a triad chord like this, it is making an octave of the root of the chord. So if I go back one space, it will make the seventh largest.
And with a major seventh and the bass itself. One more fret back and we play the minor seventh of the chord. And with seventh and the bass itself.
We can also achieve these inversions using a variation of the E major form. If I use the E major here playing from the A string, I also have the fifth of the chord in the bass. And then we can get all these variations of the minor chord and tetrads.
Just look. I'm going to take the chord forward so we can see how it looks with the nut. So, G major with bass in D.
You can choose to use the eyelash below or not. G minor with bass in D. G with major seventh and bass in D.
G with seventh and bass in D. So it's important for us to realize that when we understand which note we are playing here on each string, it becomes easier for us to achieve chord variations, placing the interval we need to play a string correctly, be it a seventh or any other interval. Let's now see some variations of the second inversion with bass on the fourth string.
To begin with, I'm going to play here for you the D major with bass in G, mind you. It's practically a fragment, right? I'm only using three strings.
Now, I'm deriving this chord from this little shape here, look. Which is C major, playing from A with the shape of A major, right? But we're only going to play the three middle strings here.
Wake up D, wake up G and wake up B. To be able to do C with bass and in G. It can also be C minor with bass e in G.
OK? These are just some possible ways to play the chords in the second inversion. You can search and find many others.
The third inversion is the one in which the seventh of the chord appears as the lowest note. So I'm going to give you some ways to perform this type of inversion. Look, I'm going to play the B seventh chord, but with the seventh in the bass.
It's an interesting chord because it's the opening chord of a very famous song, a great classic of Brazilian popular music. We can do this same chord, but instead of using the open string, which will limit the movement of the chord across the neck, we place the bass on the sixth string. Take a good look.
And this is already a little shape that we can use as a pattern to move around the neck of the instrument, every time we need the major chord with the minor seventh in the bass. B with bass in A, or C with bass in B flat. or sweet sharp with bass in C, or D with bass in C.
In short, it's a little shape that we can easily move around the neck of the guitar. If we want the major seventh instead of the minor seventh, the drawing will look like this. I'm doing the C major triad here on the nut, and I'm pressing the major seventh of the chord with my 3rd finger, which is the note C, which we'll get by pressing Pity with the bass itself.
In the same way, we can move this shape around the neck of the instrument and make any major chord with the major seventh on the bass. Let's see now what the minor chord with the seventh in the bass looks like. Well, I'm going to use the form of the minor chord here, and with finger 4, I'm going to press the note Bb, which is the minor seventh of this chord.
That it will work with the bass of the chord there. So, we are learning here the D minor with bass in Bb, which is a little shape that we can move around the guitar to make any minor chord with the seventh in the bass. Well, these are just a few variations of chords with the seventh in the bass.
You can search there and find other ways to perform these chords. Now let's look at some exercises to apply the theory of chord inversion and create interesting melodies with the lowest strings on the guitar. To start, I'm going to teach you a harmonic sequence that I prepared with only inverted chords.
Look how interesting. We're going to start with the C major string, which is the only string that won't be inverted here in the sequence. The second chord will be a G chord with a bass in C.
The third chord is an F major chord with bass in A. The fourth chord will be F minor with bass in Ab. The fifth chord will be C major with the bass in G.
Next comes D7 and the bass in F sharp. Then we have the G with bass in F and to finish the C major with bass in E. Now I'm going to play the entire sequence for you.
Look how nice it is. I created a melody on the bass of the chords, making a descending melody. It starts here on the note C, and ends on the note E, which is the note on the open sixth string.
I'm going to sing the bass melody to make it clearer and for us to understand a little better how this works. It's a simple sequence, and if we play the chords without the inversions, it will be much smoother. Look, it would be C, G, F, Am.
With inverted agreements we have a more sophisticated sound, with more elements, something richer and more enjoyable to listen to as well. Now you can also practice creating your own inverted chord exercises, that is, you will write a harmonic sequence trying to exercise this reasoning of giving in which the notes make fewer jumps and take more short paths. Use neighboring notes in the bass notes of the chords.
And understand aurally what the result of these sequences with inverted chords will be like. And to finish, I'm going to do one last exercise with you, giving an example of how we can rearrange a song that we already know and play, giving it a different look. a more personal, more personal way of playing.
I chose the song, a very cool song by Baron Vermelho, a big hit called Batch Balance. Let's first listen to the song in the original arrangement, which was like this. Well, in the original we have the chords of E minor and D major, making the first sequence.
And in the second sequence we have A minor and C major. Of course, there's this little trick of doing a little dragging here on the chord, playing it first one fret first, then dragging it to reach the correct target, which gives the song all this cool swing. Now I'm going to show you what the song looks like using this idea of chord inversion.
Just look. Well, so in this new arrangement of the song, I used Em in this way, without inversion. In this sequence, I used the Dm chord in the first inversion, with the Fs in the bass.
And when we play the Cm using this form, it makes the 9th of the chord, so it becomes a Dm and the bass becomes an Fs. If we only play up to the C string, we will have the D with bass in bass and in bass and in G without any notes added. Next, I used E minor in the first inversion, that is, E minor with bass and G.
In this form here. Then, go back to D with bass and bass and G. In the second part, we will do the A minor with bass and E, which is just assembling the A minor chord Soon after, I made the major chord, but with the bass here the G note, which is on the third fret of the mizona, then comes an A minor with a normal seventh here, right, with the A even in the bass and the major also normal without any inversion, they are these chords that I used here in this new arrangement that completely changed the look of the song so it had a little more atmosphere smooth and the basses taking a very different path from the original path.
Let's listen to it one more time, now I'm going to try to sing it for you. You can follow your star Your future is doubtful Now you can also try to make your own arrangements and exercise all these ideas that we learned in this class about bass inversions or inverted chords, trying to create variations for the chords you already know by changing the order in which the notes are presented here, changing the note that will be the lowest note of the chord to create melodies in the bass, using the lowest strings. In this class, we talk about bass inversions or inverted chords, which is a technique for us to change the order in which the notes are arranged in the chord, modifying what will be the lowest note, also called the bass of the chord.
We have seen that inversions are divided into three categories. In the first inversion, we have the third of the chord as the lowest note. In the second inversion, it is the fifth of the chord that will be played on the bass.
And in the third inversion, the seventh will play this role. Well, bass inversions are a very interesting resource for us to create melodies in the lowest region of the guitar. And they are also very cool for us to create variations in the sound of the simplest agreements.
This way, we can make arrangements on the guitar to make the song have a more interesting sound and even more like us, our personal style of playing. And I also prepared a PDF, which is important for you to download here by accessing this link, you can type it in your browser to download the file, with all the teaching material to better capture the content of this class. And that's it, this was our special class.
on chord inversion, ending the series of theoretical classes on chord formation. I hope you enjoyed it, subscribe to our YouTube channel, leave us comments here and follow Cifra Club on Twitter to stay up to date with the latest news on the site.
