Chord Inversions on Guitar

What an inversion is

Chords are named by their notes, but the notes can be stacked in different orders. A C chord is C E G. If C is the lowest note, you are playing C in root position. If you play E G C, or G C E, you still have a C chord. The notes are the same, so the chord is the same, but the lowest note has changed. That is an inversion.

The lowest note is the one that matters. It is the bass of the chord, and a different bass gives a different feel, even though the harmony underneath is unchanged. Your ear hears root position as the most settled and inversions as lighter, with more movement.

Triad inversions

A triad has three notes, so it has three positions:

The slash name tells you the bass note. The same rule works for every chord. D/F♯ is D with its 3rd (F♯) in the bass, and G/B is G with its 3rd (B) in the bass. A longer look at those names is in the slash chords guide.

Notice that a slash name is an inversion only when the note after the slash is a note of the chord. If it is not, the chord is something else.

Triad inversions on strings 1, 2 and 3

The three high strings are G, B and e. They give a compact set of shapes that sit far from the open chords, so they are a good first place to see inversions. Strings are written from the 6th string to the 1st, and x means do not play.

• C, root position (x x x 5 5 3): G string fret 5 is C, B string fret 5 is E, and the top string at fret 3 is G.
• C/E, 1st inversion (x x x 9 8 8): the notes are E, G and C from bottom to top. The shape has a barre of two fingers at fret 8, with one finger higher on the G string.
• C/G, 2nd inversion (x x x 0 1 0): G, C and E. This one uses two open strings, so it is the easiest. The same shape also sits at x x x 12 13 12, an octave higher.

The three shapes go in a loop. After the 2nd inversion comes the root position again, one octave higher. On the neck, this loop repeats about every 12 frets.

Play them in order: root, 1st, 2nd, then root again. Listen to the top note: it rises through G, C, E and back up to G.

Moving the shapes

These shapes work for any major chord, because the pattern of strings is the same. Move the whole shape and the name follows the notes, as with any barre chord. To find the name, look at the lowest note and the other two notes. A quick check is to look up the result in the chord finder.

7th chord inversions

A 7th chord has four notes, so it has four positions. A G7 chord is G B D F, and each note can be at the bottom:

G7 is a dominant 7th, the chord built on the 5th degree of C major. The notes are the same in each position, and only the bass changes. The dominant 7th guide covers its sound and uses.

• G7 (3 2 0 0 0 1): the familiar open shape with G in the bass.
• G7/B (x 2 0 0 0 1): the same shape without the 6th string, and with the 5th string at fret 2. B is the lowest note.
• G7/D (x x 0 0 0 1): open D, G, B and then F on the top string. D is the lowest note.
• G7/F (1 2 0 0 0 x): F on the 6th string at fret 1 and B on the 5th string at fret 2. F, the 7th, is the lowest note.

Every one of these is a G7 chord. The only difference is where the bass goes, and that is what each name records. The 7th chords guide lists the other 7th types.

Using inversions in a progression

Inversions are most useful when the bass note walks. G7/B is a handy bridge to C because the bass climbs B to C:

• G7/B, then C: the bass goes B to C, a half step.
• G7/F, then C/E: the bass goes F to E, also a half step down.

In a song, the chord is the same G7 in all four cases. The inversion decides which bass note you hear. When you read a chart with slash names, you are reading inversions written out.

Tips

1. Find the bass first. Place your lowest finger on the note named after the slash, then add the other notes.
2. Mute the strings below the bass. On the shapes above, the strings marked x must not ring.
3. Sing or hum the bass. The bass line is a tune by itself. If it jumps, an inversion may make it smoother.
4. Learn the loop on one chord. Play root, 1st and 2nd inversion of C, then do the same for G, using the same string set. The top strings are the easiest place to learn the pattern.
5. Check any new shape. The chord finder shows the notes of a shape and plays them, so you can verify that the bass is the note you meant.