How do you know which inversion to use in a chord progression?

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LK12

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For example, If i'm doing II-V-I progression in the key of C, how do you know which is the correct inversion to use for Dm7 and the G7? That goes for any chord progression, how do you know which inversion to use? Any does anyone have a website or something that gives all the correct inversions for each chord?
 
It mostly depends on what you want the bass note to be. A good idea might be to play all different inversions in the progression and really listen to how each inversion sounds in the progression. Does one give a more distinct sound? why? how? Does one make the cadence ( the V - I ) sound weaker? why do you think?

This will also help alot in two ways 1) in the future you will know what inversion because you'll know how it sounds, 2) you'll be able to hear which inversions other songs are using and thereby better understand how other musicians are using inversions... that is, if you really spend time listening (and singing) to how the inversions sound, and how they sound in a progression.


So... the correct one to choose is the one that sounds best in that situation. Unfortunately that's not a very solid answer, but it's true... different inversions go better in different situations. Try them out and see.

As for a standard rule of thumb... keeping them in root position will give you a stronger sense of the chord changes, inversions should be kept to a minimum, and they work best when the bass note of the inversion is a passing note (between 2 root position chords - ex: C G/D e). But, these are generalities from theory class... which means they don't have all too much application in real life other than "it worked well to do it like that in the past", which makes it a safe bet.
 
Yeah, I guess it totally depends on what you are doing and what's going on with the rest of the music, generally to smooth out a chord progression you can invert stuff - which also makes playing easier. For instance, the V7-I cadence could be played as G,B,D,F ( as normal ) to G,C,E and inversion of the C chord, which gives a nice finale to the cadence and is very smooth, then you could find the best inversion to go from the Dm7 to the G7. But again, really it would depend on what's going on in your track as it could well sound completely wrong.
 
The idea of inversions is to vary the bass notes for the most part (not a rule). Since the bass (the lowest) and the soprano voices (the highest) are the most distinct frekuencies they suffer if you have monotony and repetion in them.
First inversion (3rd in the bass) is safe to use anywhere, although not that good as an opening chord, the second inversion is best used as a passing note, i.e. going from one note to its adjasent note. The 2nd inversion (5th in bass) sounds very different than the root position, because the fifth overtakes the chord. There is too much theory behind this to explain, but if not used wisely it might make that particualr chord sound weak, or not have the same effect as if it was in root position.
But again remember watch the bass. Vary the bass notes, becsause they are the most noticable and any monotony (too much repetion) in there will make your progressions average.
Read Arndold Schoenberg's "Theory of Harmony"
 
The type of inversion you use should depend on how you want it to sound. Inversions can give a since of a "smooth" transitions between chords..just keep playing around will it untill it sounds right to you..and you shouldn't need something to tell you which inversion to use
 
pharrell inversions like on "angel," "mamacita" and "Young girl" or the sickest progression like the one on "whats your name" by T.I. sick ass chord progression.
 
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