Inverted Triad Calculator (2024)

FAQs

How do you memorize triad inversions? ›

Tip #2: Memorize shapes, not notes

If you play triads and their inversions in different keys, you'll see the same shapes over and over again. Root position chords look similar, 1st inversion chords look similar, and so on. Practice these shapes, and try to visualize the same shapes in different keys.

Triad Inversions

Triads can appear in three inversions. The inversion is determined by the lowest note of the chord. In root position the root is the the lowest note. In first inversion the third is the the lowest note.

Like triads, seventh chords can be inverted by moving the lowest note up an octave. Root position is the same as a triad – the root is the lowest (bass) note. Let's invert the chord. First inversion is also the same – the third is the lowest note.

A more reliable approach is to start listening out for which note is at the top (or the bottom) of the chord. For example, if you can hear that the root of the chord is on top, you know it is the first inversion of the chord. If it is the third of the chord on top, it is the second inversion, and so on.

43 is short for 643: you have intervals of a third, fourth, and sixth above the bass. 42 (or sometimes just 2) is short for 642: you have intervals of a second, fourth, and sixth above the bass. Those intervals are for complete 7th chords, of course, but that's the general structure.

1 Voicing a First Inversion Chord. In contrast to the doubling rule for root position chords (i.e., “double the bass”), do not double the bass note for first inversion triads. Instead, double the root or fifth, depending on which can be approached and left most smoothly.

If you shift the E up an octave so that G becomes the new bass note, this gives you the second inversion of the C major chord. Now the note order is G, C, E. The number of possible inversions a chord has depends on how many notes it contains: There is one possible inversion for each note that is not the root note.

In music theory, a diminished triad (also known as the minor flatted fifth) is a triad consisting of two minor thirds above the root. It is a minor triad with a lowered (flattened) fifth. When using chord symbols, it may be indicated by the symbols "dim", "^o", "m^♭5", or "MI".

The reason that the major 7th sounds so complex is because of its dissonance. Dissonance comes from intervals and the major 7th interval between C and B is very dissonant. However, unlike some dissonance, it is a dissonance that does not need resolution. If you end a phrase on a major 7th chord, it feels ended.

In music theory, a ninth chord is a chord that encompasses the interval of a ninth when arranged in close position with the root in the bass. The ninth chord and its inversions exist today, or at least they can exist.

Why is the 7th chord diminished? ›

The diminished 7th chord is used in a similar way in minor keys, typically to create more tension over the 5 chord. In the key of A minor for example, E7 would be our dominant chord, based on the harmonic minor scale.

Although root position and second inversion Neapolitans exist, first inversion is normally used. In this inversion, the Neapolitan is called a Neapolitan sixth.

Each suspended chord has two inversions. Suspended second chords are inversions of suspended fourth chords, and vice versa. For example, G^sus2 (G–A–D) is the first inversion of D^sus4 (D–G–A) which is the second inversion of G^sus2 (G–A–D).

In an inverted chord, the root is not the lowest note. The inversions are numbered in the order their lowest notes appear in a close root-position chord (from bottom to top).

However, the quickest way to learn the major triads is not to think about major 3rds and 5ths, but to learn them in what I'm going to egotistically call Westenra groups , where the triads are arranged according to what they look like: C, F and G are WWW. A, D and E are WBW. Ab, Db and Eb are BWB.

The G Major triad consists of the notes G, B and D. The 2 inversions to the G Major triad are B D G and D G B. The G Major 7th chord, abbreviated as Gmaj7 or GM7, has the notes G, B, D and F♯. The 3 inversions to the G Major 7th chord are B D F♯ G, D F♯ G B and F♯ G B D.