Practicing Major Triads & Inversions Series 3

Description

This time we start with the root position A major chord. The closest possible D major chord is a second inversion chord. Again it has a common tone A, and the other two notes of the chord move minimally; one note moves up a half-step and another moves up a whole-step. Pitchwise, from low to high, we get:

A to A - same pitch

C# to D - up half-step (1 fret)

E to F# - up whole-step (2 frets)

We move back to the A major chord. Next we look for the closest possible E major chord. This happens to be the first inversion shape E major below the A major. Again, the note E is a common tone. The other two notes of the chord move minimally. One note moves down a whole-step and another moves down a half-step. Pitchwise, from low to high, we get:

A to G# - down half-step (1 fret)

C# to B - down whole-step (2 frets)

E to E - same pitch

Notice a very important pattern emerges concerning a I-IV-I-V chord progression. In this case A(I)-D(IV)-A(I)-E(V).

The distance from any given I chord to it's closest voicing IV chord always involves three characteristics:

Root note of I chord to 5th of IV chord - same pitch

3rd of I chord to root note of IV chord - up half-step (1 fret)

5th of I chord to 3rd of IV chord - up whole-step (2 frets)

Depending upon which voicing you start with, these motions could be in a different order, but all three will always be present in some order. Likewise, the distance from any given I chord to it's closest voicing V
chord always involves three characteristics:

Root note of I chord to 3rd of V chord - down half-step (1 fret)

3rd of I chord to 5th of V chord - down whole-step (2 frets)

5th of I chord to root note of V chord -same pitch

Again, depending upon which voicing you start with, these motions could be in a different order, but all three will always be present in some order.

This is a very important feature of all I-IV-I-V chord progressions with incredibly wide ranging implications, applications and potential.