Inversion

A rearrangement of a chord in which a note other than the root is placed in the bass.

First inversion puts the third in the bass and second inversion puts the fifth there, and the effect is a smoother, more connected sound because the lowest note can step to its neighbour rather than jumping. Inversions are what make a bass line or a chord melody flow, and on guitar they appear naturally whenever a player uses the same shape higher up the neck. The chord symbol is written with a slash to show the bass note, so a chord over its third looks like a slash chord.

Example: A C major chord played with E in the bass is a first inversion of C major.

Inversion

See also