Inversions
You may have heard of inversions before however, how do you use them? And what role do they play in R&B music?
What is a chord inversion? Well basically it is playing a chord with the root key in a different location (other than base). For example lets take a look at the chord Cmaj7th. In the standard position it would be the keys C, E, G, and B. A typical inversion would be G, B, C and E as per the below diagram
There are many inversion variations however this is a very common one., and a common use would be for practicality. Inversion can reduce your hand movemout around the keybaor, especially when you have fast chaning chords. See the 2-5-1 example below
Instead of moving from the D across to the G, we can simply play an inverstion resulting in the movement of two fingers. And then the same thing back to the Cmajor, simply move two fingers
Use of Inversions in R&B
Find a chord inversion that has notes a semi-tone apart. You will get better results if the semi-tone movement consists of a black and white key next to each other. This is a Db major 7th with the root at Ab.
Play this and observe the sound differnce between this and the satandard position Db Major. Although it is the same chord, they have a differnet vibe to it. The inverted version has the C and C# next to each other which creates an almost dissonant vibe which is great for R&B. The theory behind why it makes that sound is a completey differnt topic, however all you need to know for now is that this works well for R&B
It is good to try playing around with various chord combinations even if they are borrowed chords just to get yourself familiar with the finger positioning for inversions.
A good one to try is Bmaj7/Gb as per below. The are are different keys but Dbmaj7/Ab and Bmaj7/Gb work well together and have that nice R&B sound
