First Inversion Triads: How To Play Them On Guitar And 3 Ways To Use Them In Your Music

Tommaso Zillio

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If you ever wrote a song, or you want to start writing, you may be familiar with the problem that after a while all your songs start to sound the same. Why does this happen?

If for instance, you want to write a song in C major you only have 6 usable triads: C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am. With only 6 'colors' available, it's plain to see how it would be very easy to repeat yourself.

So what can we do about that? Well, there is this trick, that has been called "the songwriter's secret weapon": use first inversion triads.

In the short video below we see together what first inversion triads are and how to play them on guitar, and then we see 3 ways to use them in your songs:

Nothing hard as you see, and yet this way you get 7 more new sounds you can use in your songs! Try writing something with it and share your experiences in the YT comments!

And if you want to know more about chords, chord inversions, and more advanced and interesting ways to write chord progressions (and play them on your guitar) have a look at the Complete Chord Mastery course where you will learn ALL the secret weapons that composers have been trading in the last 250+ years - from Bach to the latest top 40 success.