Chord inversions are created when you shuffle around the order of the notes in a chord.
We don’t think about them much on guitar because we just play the shapes we know and move on… but there is much fun to be had when you learn all 4 shapes 🙂
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In case you can’t get the chord shapes from the video here they are:
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100 replies to "Using Chord Inversions For Solos"
Got my face tatted on a few years back. Soooo,
I’m good to GO!
Great lesson Griff!
For me , and possibly other visual learners, would you please be more careful where the fret numbers are placed on the chord diagrams. Consider the second G7 chord, as indicated which is the 5th fret? Where do I play it?
One effective correction would be to illustrate these chords in standard tab form.
Another change would be to place the fret numbers on the chord diagrams in place of the darkened circles
Thanks for your time.
The nut is 0 & count frets from there 1,23,4,5,6etc so the diagrams are pretty much self explanatory start G7 at the 5th fret & place digits on & beyond the 5th fret. It’s standard Tab format. It’s best to orientate your thinking around that format as your guitar journey is dependent on familiarising with that form of notation as nearly all chord diagrams & lead will use employ that format
The diagrams are wrong and they should be labelled 4Fr, 7Fr & 11Fr for the positions they are shown in. The 2nd G7 is shown with the 4th string fretted at 6th fret which is wrong. Like wise all the other strings are wrong. They should place the #Fr next to the appropriate fret but haven’t. Preferably with an unambiguous arrow. I suspect it is down to the person who setup the diagrams?
Great!
Santana mentioned “the face” in a video he made. If Griff and Carlos do it, it’s good enough for me. Riff ugly….
Clapton’s intro to The Breeze with JJ Cale. Always wondered how he did that.
Pat B
t y Griff, cool
Griff, this was yet another great lesson thanks!
That was GREAT…I just got my Stumming and Mastery course I have wanted for years and it was at a discount so I was finally able to get it…EXCITED…
Speaking of making the face , my wife and I love listening at the voice of the wetlands that
Has lots of locals put together by Tab Benoit
Lots of great artist , but a young fella , Jonathan (boogie) Long , who by the way is the best I’ve personally known or seen , makes the
most awful face my wife can’t stand to look.
I told you’re supposed to do that .
Hey Griff,
One of the best lessons yet, for me. Especially the part about “make the face.” Still laughing on that one. Thanks for the lesson and the laugh.
Billy
Good tips Griff! Using different chord voicings can add a lot of color to rhythm playing. Also great for working out chord melodies, by using inversions that have the melody notes on the top of the chords.
I love these very practical ‘lifelines’ that you throw out which can be used straight away. Thanks man!
Hey Griff, Do you recommend Finger Ease for the fret board on an electric guitar? I noticed how easy you make it look when you are bending strings. I get a lot of friction on my guitar when I’m bending so I just wanted to know if you have any recommendations. Thanks!!
very cool , and I’ve got the face making down lol
Hi Griff,
Just a minor comment on your explanation in the beginning of the vid: it lead me to believe the exact sequence G-B-D-F needs to be ‘rotated’, with the bottom note always going to the top for the next inversion; while in fact it is only the bottom note that determines which inversion we are in, the sequence of the other notes doesn’t matter – as evidenced in the rest of the video. Just nitpicking; love your lessons!
Hey Griff… That was a tasty lick/inversion lesson… I always watch your Vids and share them with various guys I jam with… I hope you’re getting some business from the guys I point to BGU…
Blessings to you Buddy Blues Man!
Jeffrey, aka Kyd
Wow!!!! “Light Bulb” moment for many of us. Keep ’em coming. God Bless.
Very excellent lesson. Can you breakdown that blues flurry at 6:47? Great playing!
Griff
Good stuff for us beginners. I need help , any chance of putting out the tab from the 4:47 min where you start comping ?
Thank you boss I have heard that before but until you explained it to me I thought they were different chords I did not realize it was the same Chord at different octaves thank you again Griff its these small lessons that go so far again Thanks
Thanks again Griff. You make and explain lessons so brightly that Ifeel oh! It is so easy .. But in reality iIneed practice to make a mark. How cool you are in teaching 👍👌
Hi Griff,
I love your stuff and the way you deliver it too.
I am out the subject here, but what would you recommend me for a combo bass amp? (Ibanez GSR200BK)
I play bass 5 times a year in a larger room for 100 people. How many watts??
Should I just play on my guitar amp without breaking it (Yorkville KB100) which does the job for the guitar? Tks Robert
Great stuff, but I wonder why the shape using the 5th string root is not included- thus D and B on 12th fret and F and optionally D again on 10th fret?
I had the same question, but after looking at it again, it is a repeat of the root inversion (root,5,7b,3,(5)) or (G,D,F,B,(D)) that Griff plays with the root on the 4th string/5th fret, albeit, it has an extra note, 5 or D, on the 1st string if you play all five strings. If you play the bottom 4 strings, it does sounds like a slightly different inversion.
Hey Griff,
Great I have save it for later, not just there yet for the CAGED System.
But Looks good.
Thanks
Michael-Sydney-Australia
Really enjoy your lessons. I have been playing piano ao8nd guitar since 1964 I began as a music manor at Duquesne University in 1968. I lost my vision in 1998 and could not read music anymore,but can play by ear. My wife reads me your lessons and I leaen. If you have a piano background, you can play,almost any instruments. Keep up the great work.
Marty
Great lesson!!! Amazing how THEORY explained correctly is so powerful and useful.
Now I can play the musical score when Snydley Whiplash ties the heroine to the train tracks!
Sweet Nell
Thanks again for the great tip. I like it.
Thanks Griff Your a big help to me. billy m.
Hi Griff. Thank you so much for all your help, there may be lite aat the end of the tunnel for this 80 year blues player after all billy m,
Well, As You can see from the happy response to this short vid, we are hungry for this topic. You just handed over the keys to this many roomed mansion. Now I want the rest of that idea under my hands.
All two note, three note, four note versions, inversions, reversions and perversions in every key, from every position and place on the neck. Now there is a challenge.
If I play a lowly C chord in the first position, concealed within are four inversions of the C triads. Is this really a ‘secret’?
Shoulda started on this 30 years ago……….
This must be something of a new vid . looks goood ! sounds good! I have learned something very powerfull today not this but another thang which totally blew me away for a bit . Its great when that happens isnt it ?
just stopped in again for this one . the attack of the female kind would most like this one .
Like the educated refined look with the glasses, wonderful lesson.
This is a terrific lesson today. I believe in and have worked on chord inversions since the first day I started playing guitar. I do plenty of it today along with chord extensions, especially jazz chords. It is a lot of fun learning chord inversions and their sounds…..
This does work acoustically with the Playing on the Porch lesson style thingy. What’s the CAGED method that’s being mentioned? I’d like to hear about it. And thanks for the chord shapes you included. Helps me a bunch. Nice Tele by the way.
I love it these small lessons.
Always keeping it simple Griff – So well explained – (I reckon other music teachers make it so complicated to keep the pupils coming back )
Hey Griff! After attempting to answer Lonnie’s question above about how to use the four inversions in the rest of the progression I realize why you are so good at teaching – you keep it simple! I hope my thoughts were useful to someone at any rate. I have enjoyed your help from the first day I saw one of your videos – looks like you are in it for the long haul. Thanks much!! TW
While watching this video about chord inversions, I started seeing similarities between this and the “CAGED” system. Am I way off base here?
Robert you are right on the money. The CAGED system seems to confuse some people but it is really useful – Griff used it to perfection without calling it the CAGED system.
TW
Cheers Griff
Every lesson opens a wonderful door
Do you cover this in your theory course ?
Thank you for the lesson. What a challenge for someone who doesn’t know more than one G7!
Another excellent clip, what I like to call putting practical theory into practical use.
Thanks again Griff great stuff
Thank you Griff ,as always ,I really appreciate your pResentation and the quality of your playing. THANK YOU .
What an inspiration & pleasure. Been playing
professionally since 1965 (age of 14),
play a total of 7 (stringed) instruments (all self-taught, including pedal steel)…..But I would be SO much better if I would have had access to someone like you so many years ago….Pal, you definitely have
ur “Poop in a Group” !!
Keep up the
excellent work….Do you happen to play E9 pedal steel?
(That’s probably dreamin’ on my part) ;?#(
Jeff
Jeff – just for the hell of it, check out Scott Groves’ “Groovy Music Lessons”. He plays all kinds of stringed instruments (E9 PS included) and he teaches why you play notes instead of memorizing what to play, then you use it from there. Helpful for pedal steel because there is too much that could be memorized.
Thank you
Thanks, Griff. Great video lesson. The free lessons you share with us are better than most of the “other” teacher’s lessons for purchase. I can’t get over your constant enthusiasm and energy. Thanks again.
Tom
Very cool. The 3rd inversion is one I have not used in the past. It opens up another step in the ladder.. The four comps work well for up and down, as well as combining with arpeggios and scales with upward and downward runs. Modulations too.
Gosh……..your knowledge is awesome….can you play as well?
That is way cool stuff, I truly dig these short lessons, they do help in a big way.
Magic stuff Griff
It’s funny little lessons like these that keeps me going. “make the face”, you gotta make the face! you the man Griff. Thanks for everything.
Great stuff Griff. Adds a lot to comping
Thanks Teach, always love new tools!!!
“Shake the top note really hard, Make the face” . LOL. Love it .
Thanks Griff
This lessen came at a perfect time for me as I am starting the Inversion Lesson 8 in the Guitar Theory Made Useful Course.
I have studied music theory on my own, but with no examples of how to use things like Inversions, it can seem like going nowhere fast.
With the tips you give for how to use Inversions, a lot of things are making sense to me and I find I want study music all the time and I am truly fascinated and want to learn more!
Thanks again,
Pat
P.S its on my bucket list to meet you Griff and see you play live!
Thanks Griff, today I’m a better guitar player. This small lesson made it happen! Stay true to the blues!
have heard this on many recording and did not know how it was done. brilliant and simple, thanks and happy new year
Hi Griff.
I´m from Greenland. I learn a lot from you, thanks. My freands do like when I played for them. 🙂
Great explanation of inversions and pacing through this mini lesson Griff.
Make a face and do the whole thing” Now that was funny. Thanks Griff, I needed that today.
Jazzy,topsy-turvy, I like it.
In the Greg Kihn Band Tune “Breakup Song”, I noticed that his signature A Minor Chord after the song starts out with the chords A minor F major G major, the band goes to an inverted A minor chord using the top four notes of the third box at the tenth fret of the A minor pentatonic shape. Do this by leaving the A open string, middle finger tenth fret D string, index finger ninth fret G string, ring finger tenth fret B string, and either E note open string or pinky at its octave at the twelfth fret. A perfect example of an A minor inversion chord done by the brilliant Greg Kihn.
thanks Griff…I actually use the third form on the page in “Key To the Highway” for playing the 5th chord…later.
cowboy
Hi Griff, do you live in a guitar store?
“…and make the face…” Hilarious! Really enjoy these! Great lesson!
Griff, you constantly inspire me to pull out the ax and get to playin’
small things I like,, thanks for the lesson, never thought of using (little cords) that way……
Thanks Griff, Cool stuff to use right away…
As always Griff you show me something really cool and very helpful. Thanks for that.
Hi Griff,
So, these inversions are just different voicings, correct?
happy new year
Very expressive background by using chord inversions, especially performed by somebody like you Griff who is able to play them with mastering freedom.
Thank you ! You are great not only as an instructor.
Osum posum
Woops that should have been a total of 9 not 8. I have the same problem with putting my fingers on the fretboard as I do on the keyboard of the computer.
You are not alone – keep hackin’ away – I do. TW
A fellow once told me that the total of three notes of a chord…1-3-5 equals 8.
No matter how you arrange those notes 1-3-5, 1-5-3, 3-5-1, 3-1-5, 5-1-3 or 5-3-1 those numbers will always equal 8 and make the chord.
This would hold true with the addition of a 4th note to make a 7th chord or a minor chord, and there you have another explanation for a chord inversion.
1+3+5=9!!!
glad to see someone read my comment. notice that I corrected it. spell check doesn’t do math. 🙂
GREAT LESSON GRIFF
Thanks Griff
Very nice…
Hey Griff good lesson. How about showing us how you would use the inversions in all the the chord changes.
Hi Lonnie – the shapes stay the same as you move through the chord changes in the progression (I,IV,V), they just start in a different position when you move to the IV & V of the progression. Griff chose to start the I chord (G7) in the “E7 chord shape” like he said, then the next (G7) inversion in the “D7 chord shape” , then the next inversion up the neck in the “C7 chord shape” and last one in the “A7 chord shape” at the 12th fret. When you go to the IV(C7)& V(D7) chords start them in the “A7 chord shape” and follow with the same order you used for the I chord of the progression. This is the “CAGED” system – get the four shapes down and it works in all keys and can start in any of the four shapes – just keep the shapes in the same order relative to where you start in the “E7-D7-C7-A7 chord shape” inversion chain. This is probably too long winded but the point is that Griff has given us four shapes that work for all the chords in the progression.
Thanks so much Griff
Finally, I’m getting it.
I really look forward to your emails and watch them right away. As usual, this is a great lesson. Thanks mate!
As always an excellent lesson.
And thanks Griff for inspiring me to learn a classic and endlessly repetetive ‘lick’ and chord on an ACOUSTIC guitar!
Great Info
Thanks for the information Griff, great lesson.
Your explanation was impeccable. Inversions make sense to me now. You Rock!
Griff,
This is just what I needed! I see this in the Blues Gig In A Box for the song “I Believe” leading into the last solo and was wondering how to do that with other chord progressions and now I truly get it! Thanks!
Another vocabulary advancement for the good of the betterment of Blues rhythm playing and solos. A great New Years present. Thanx and Happy New Year.
Regards,
Joe Klein
Awesome sauce Griff! I’ve been wanting to spice up my rhythm playing. Thanks again for all the great lessons you post!
Thanks that really helps didn’t know there were so many g7s
Hey Griff,
Thanks for the valuable info… you’re truly a great instructor, and I always appreciate what you have to share, and the way you share it! Peace
Thanks Griff, cool as always…