More on Inversions
The following example shows another group of chord inversions which are commonly used together. The C chord is a first inversion, the F is root position and the G is second inversion. The first inversion voicing shown here is particularly useful for finishing a song as it has the root note on the top.
Here is a keyboard part making use of these inversions. The left hand part consists of the root note of each chord played in octaves. This is a common keyboard technique which gives a much more powerful sound. Practice each hand separately at first if necessary.
Here is an exercise to help you develop the use of octaves in the left hand part.
This example follows the 12 Bar Blues progression and uses the group of chord inversions introduced in this lesson. As you play, listen to how much fuller the chords sound when octaves are used in the left hand part.
Continuing on with the study of inversions, here are some more inversions which are commonly used together. This time the C chord is a second inversion, the F chord is a first inversion and the G chord is in root position.
Here is a 12 Bar Blues making use of these inversions. The left hand part contains a B note which is not in any of the chords but comes from the Blues scale which will be introduced in section 2. You can play any note against any chord as long as you think it sounds good.
To end this section, here is a 12 Bar Blues which contains all of the inversions you have learned. Once again the left hand part contains notes from outside the chords, this time B and E. This helps to make the whole part more interesting.
