We guitarists tend to learn chords by memorizing and recalling the physical shapes they form—little cells of dots that roam the fingerboard like constellations. Barres, diagonal lines, triangles,...
We guitarists tend to learn chords by memorizing and recalling the physical shapes they form—little cells of dots that roam the fingerboard like constellations. Barres, diagonal lines, triangles, right angles, and even the Big Dipper are but a few of the shapes that emerge when we “connect the dots,” so to speak. But while this methodology certainly aids retention and recollection, it doesn’t account for how and why these sonic shapes actually exist. So how do chords get their shapes? Glad you asked!
INVERSIONS THERAPY
Two-note harmonic intervals can certainly suggest chord sounds, but traditional chords require at least three notes. Theoretically, triads are three-note chords that can be spelled three different ways, from low to high. These are called inversions. The three spellings of a C major chord are root-3-5 (root position), 3-5-root ( first inversion), and 5-root-3 (second inversion). Each inversion is formed by transposing the lowest note up one octave, i.e., the bottom note of one inversion becomes the top note of the next one, played 8va.
Unlike guitarists, piano players learn all about chord inversions from the get go. Contrast this with your basic five-string, open C cowboy chord dissected in Fig. 1a—the first chord shape most of us learned—and you can see how all three inversions are lumped into one diagonal grip. Placing all three inversions on the same string group as shown in Fig. 1b reveals three “build- ing blocks” that can be used to form the basis for the other four common open major chord shapes depicted in Fig. 2 (A, G, E, and D), which, when transposed, are often referred to by the name of their open shape, regardless of