Triad Inversions

If you've got Interval Inversions down, and a strong understanding of Triads in general, you're ready to tackle this concept.

If not, I recommend you start with those!

Let's consider the Major Triad.

We know this triad consists of three notes. The Root, Major 3rd, and Perfect 5th. Typically, we've looked at playing the notes in that order. But, of course, this doesn't need to be the case.

If we're playing in C, the notes of the Major Triad are C, E, and G. As long as we play those three notes, it's still a valid Major triad.

So, instead of playing the notes as C - E - G, perhaps we move the Root up an octave.

This gives us E - G - C. It almost seems like E is the Root now, but in fact it's still C. We call this a triad in "First Inversion".

What if we do that again? If we move the Third up an octave now, we get G - C - E. Now the Fifth is the lowest note! This is called "Second Inversion". 

Of course, if we repeated that  movement one more time, we'd be back to C - E - G again, known as "Root Position".

Was that a little difficult to follow? Let's check it out on the fretboard. Below, we have two ways of inverting our C Major Triad.

The first way keeps the notes on the same three strings the entire time, while the second moves up the strings. Both are useful methods of inverting our triads. Just like in Octave Relationships, A red line indicates a movement of one octave, while a blue line means the note simply changed strings.

Try playing through these for yourself.

So just how many ways are there to play the C Major Triad on the guitar? Well, there's a lot.

This can be intimidating, for sure, but it also demonstrates the incredible freedom we have to work with on guitar.

You can play all of those notes without going out of key!

Seeing the triads in this way also brings out the possible of accentuating certain intervals within the Major Triad shape, like the Minor Third, or Perfect Fourth - sounds not typically associated with a Major Chord.

If you're ready to get started understanding how to memorize these shapes and work them into your playing, Click here to get started with Visualizing Triad Inversions!

If it's all a little overwhelming for now, that's ok. Just take some time in your practice sessions to try moving around a Major Triad for yourself. We didn't look at Minor Triads in this lesson, but the process is exactly the same. You can do much the same for many other triad and chord shapes, as well.

Triad Inversions are a big step, but incorporating them into your playing will advance you by a lightyear. It's worth the effort!