How To Memorize 7th Chord Inversions On Piano

if you struggle to find seventh chord inversions on piano I want you to try this method to picture the notes in fact I have a couple of things to show you to help make this click now I recommend becoming familiar with the basic major and minor chord inversions first because this kind of builds upon that think of it as the next step it's more useful to learn things in that order I already have a video on how to memorize those if you want to watch that first it's linked Below in the pinned comment in this video we're going to look at three types of seventh chord examples dominant sths major 7ths and minor 7ths I'd say they're usually the most useful to work on first but once you get the idea you can take the same approach and apply it to other seventh chords too so what are seventh chord inversions well all the chords we're looking at will have four notes in so the quick answer is that each inversion position simply just puts those four notes rearranges them into a different order so that's the general idea but the only thing is though that we don't actually call them notes 1 2 3 and four note number one that can be number one or the root and then it's more useful to use the proper interval names instead if you're not sure how interval names work yet you'll still be able to follow this video anyway you can just think of them as labels for each of the four notes now instead of calling them notes 1 2 3 and 4 but I'll link some chord building videos below where you can learn more so each of these chords we're going to look at has a third now that may be a major third or a minor third depending on whether it's a major or a minor type chord then each one has a fifth as well and then each one has a seventh which is of course what makes it it a seventh chord now that will either be a major or a minor 7th in these examples again depends on which type of chord we're looking at that'll all make sense as we go we'll use this C7 chord as the first example we have C the root e is the third G is the fifth and B flat is the seventh more specifically it's a minor 7th but more on that in a minute when we take the bottom note and we play it above instead that gives us the next position now this is called first inversion position and now e is on the bottom the third is on the bottom if we do that again we get the second inversion position we get second inversion position now the G is on the bottom the fifth is on the bottom one more time and we get the the third inversion position now we have the third inversion position and this time it's the seventh that's the lowest note if we did it again we would just be back to another root position like where we started just an octave higher so for any chord picture the basic root position a root position has the root as the lowest note in a first inversion the next note along would become the lowest note in a second inversion the note after that would become the lowest note and in a third inversion the note after that would become the lowest note root position first inversion second inversion third inversion quick question for you what music have you learned which uses seventh chords let me know in the comments below it would be good to hear what music people were learning okay so now moving on to the fun bit where we can learn to find these positions quickly which is important because we use positions like this a lot as a way to play the chords obviously we can practice by going up and down through positions like this to begin with as blocks like this or as broken chords and you should still do those exercises as well but sometimes people get stuck at a point where they can only find let's say this position by running through from the beginning and that's no good we want to be able to find each one jump straight to each one independently that's much more useful when we're actually you know playing music so here's a couple of things to try remember I said that it's best to learn the more basic chord inversions first so before learning the inversions of a C7 you should learn the inversions of a regular C major core because that's the underlying Triad that that we're adding a note to so there's root position there is the first inversion and there is the second inversion now I'll do that again with the seventh on Watch What Happens the seventh doesn't actually move here's our seventh Gord inversions and that seventh is in the same place each time hasn't moved it only moves when you repeat the root position again in the next octave but we already know that one from the start anyway one more way to look at this which may help is to picture a wider stream of the chord so if you picture two root positions like this you already know the root position anyway then the inversions you play are just like four note chunks from this stream got the root position first inversion second inversion third inversion and back to root position keep that wider view on the piano that's always a useful thing to do especially in the future when there'll be other ways of playing chords you might have the notes spread out differently perhaps like this if you can easily see a stream of the notes in the chord it kind of becomes easier to pick and choose how you want to play it so here's one of the main things I want to explain in the video we need to be able to find that seventh easily in every position so the simplest way to do that is by using the root note of the chord as a reference point this B flat is the seventh we've added on to the c major chord the type of seventh is a minor 7th but we also call it a flat 7 now this flat 7 is always a whole step below a route of the chord that's the simplest way to find it for any chord because it's so close by so there's another C here we're playing a C chord and then it's just a whole step below that so that means that if you can already find the regular C major first inversion you just add on the Note a whole step below the root of the chord the C now you've got C7 first inversion do exactly the same thing for a second inversion there's C major second inversion so you're building upon your previous knowledge there's the root add on the Note a whole step below and you've got C7 second inversion now the root should always be easy to track anyway because you obviously know the chord that you're playing so the root of a c chord is C the root of a G chord would be G now remember a third inversion is meant to have the seventh on the bottom so for that we can look at a root position shape and then add on the seventh a whole step below the root that way now the seventh is on the bottom learning methods like this is really useful because it helps create an inbuilt awareness of where different intervals are placed where the seventh is for example and that's really important if you want to do things like play by ear because it helps you find the notes you need to create the sound you want that's why I teach things the way I do because you get proper understanding of the chords and the patterns are then going to help you learn to find in this case all 12 dominant 7eventh chords in their inversion positions as opposed to just trying to memorize them all one by one if you're wondering about fingerings well the short answer is that there's no set fingers to learn for different inversion positions there's often a few things that may work and it depends on what music you're playing and what else is happening in the music Which cord you're on obviously um where you're coming from and where you're going to next will dictate what the best choice is there would be really too much to go over in this video as well when I'm really trying to focus on how we can find those notes clearly can't do everything in one video but soon I do want to start a series on cord fingerings in general let me know in the comments if you think that is a good idea next we'll look at a C major 7 example and you'll see that we can take exactly the same approach but it'll be quicker this time because you've already got the idea okay so a major seven chord still has the major Triad underneath but this time we add on the major 7th interval so that note if you look at the octave that note is only a half step below the octave instead of a whole step like it was last time so we have the note B this time instead of B flat again if you imagine two root positions in a row that's going to help you picture a stream of the chord and then within that these four note chunks may help you find your inversion positions so just like before when we do the inversions we can keep track of this C and just add on the major 7th a half step below so if we wanted to find a first inversion you should already know the C first inversion you just add on a half step below if you wanted a dominant seven you would have added on a whole step below but we want the major seven so it's a half step below same thing for second inversion there's the second inversion position track the root of the chord the C it's in the middle here add on the major 7th a half step below and for third inversion picture the root position you want the seventh on the bottom so add it on a half step below so that's why we learn music theory so you know which type of seventh that chord should have then you can find it easily on any chord so you could find that on G major 7 a flat major 7 B flat major 7 we're going to do a couple of examples in a minute but before that I want to do a minor seven chord example so this is C Minor 7 which has a Minor triad underneath this time and a minor 7th chord we're going to use the minus 7th interval again here's two C- 7 root positions in a row and that stream again can help us find those inversion positions as four note chunks within the Stream So before this you should learn the C Minor triad inversions anyway so there's a c minor first inversion and if you want to make that c minus 7 first inversion follow the root add on the Note a whole step below and there it is now eagley viewers May notice that this chord is also an E flat major 6 it depends what note you're playing down here if you've got a C down here it's a C minor 7th chord and you're using an inversion position in your right hand but if you've got E flat down here that's actually an E flat 6 chord but let's stick on topic second inversion position there's C minor in second inversion so to make it a C Minor 7 look at the route add on the whole step below and for the third inversion you'd picture the root position and then you'd find the seventh a whole step below again familiarity with these positions on piano will make the shape of them easier to read in sheet music too we won't get into that side of things here but I'm going to do another video soon focused on reading chords so we need to see this in a couple of other keys so you can really get the idea so this is a G major Triad if we added on F that would become G dominant 7 the f is a whole step below the next G if we add it on F sharp that would become a g major 7 which is a half step below the next G picturing a wider stream of the G major 7 chord can help you find the four note inversion positions hidden [Music] within and it can help you find other ways to arrange the notes too and you can do just the same thing on the G dominant seventh chord finding those four note chunks inside the Stream [Music] so as long as we know our G major first inversions first we can find a G7 adding on the Note a whole step below the G or a G major 7 in first inversion adding on the Note half step below if you want to have a longer look pause the video a second inversion position exactly the same as before dominant 7 play the note a whole step below the G for a major 7 play the note the major 7th interval a half step below the G and for the third inversion the seventh needs to be on the bottom so you look at the root position and you add on either a whole step below for a dominant seventh chord or a half step below for a Major Seventh chord if this was a g 7 exactly the same process with a G minor Triad so you can do this for any seventh chord as long as you work out what you need for that chord whether that chord has a major Triad Minor triad might be a diminished Triad so as long as you learn the Triad first which you should do anyway learn which seventh you need and then you can use exactly the same method so our minus 7th chord remember has the minus 7th interval again a whole step below picturing 2 g- 7 root position in a row can help us find all the inversion shapes inside of that so if we know our G minor first inversion we can find G minor 7 first inversion by adding on the minor 7th interval a whole step below the G for a second inversion use the G minor second inversion position add on a whole step below the G again just like before for the third inversion the seventh interval is once more a whole step below the G let's do B flat major as well remember it's always going to look slightly different depending on what um what chord you're using so we have different mixtures of black and white keys on the piano so there's a B flat major Triad if we wanted that to become B flat dominant 7 with addon the minor 7th interval a whole step below the octave or if it was B flat major 7th we'd add on the major 7th interval a half step below the octave these two B flat 7 root positions can help us picture the inversion positions inside that stream of notes from the chord and here's how that looks with B flat major 7 two root positions in a row gives you a stream which can help help us find the inversion positions for that chord [Music] within so for the inversions it's B flat major in first inversions learn the inversions first learn the Triad inversions first dominant seventh a whole step below the root of the chord root of the chord is on top so we add on that note then for a major 7th we would add this one on instead remember if we just removed the bottom note and put it on top we'd arrive at exactly the same place but we just want to be able to find it instantly second inversion exactly the same look at your B flat major in second inversion know where the root is you know it's a B flat chord so you know that's the root whole step below that for a dominant half step below that for a major seven for third in version you're going to picture the root position and you add on either whole step below for the dominant seventh chord or a half step below for the Major Seventh chord and lastly then we'll do B flat minor 7 so for this you picture your B flat minor Triad learn those inversions we need the minus 7th interval for this chord so again a whole step below the octave and just the same we can use two B flat minor root positions to help us visualize the other inversion positions inside that stream of notes picture your first inversion of the chord whole step below the root of the chord which is up here now so there's B flat minor 7 in first invert iion so for second inversion picture B flat minor in second inversion and then you can also picture the root remember you have to picture all these notes in one go before actually playing them and for third inversion picture the root position and then play the note a whole step below B flat minor 7 in third inversion I hope that was helpful please give it a thumbs up if it was you might want to check out this video next on find pentatonic scales and if you have any questions please let me know Below in the comments thanks for watching

Channel: Piano From Scratch

Views: 13,932

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Length: 19min 34sec (1174 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 23 2024