UNIT 2.

4
HARMONY pt. 4: INVERSION OF 7th CHORDS
Inverting seventh chords is very similar to triads!

Remember our terminology:

Bass - the lowest-sounding voice of a chord

Root - the root of the chord, the note that the chord is built upon
Third - the third factor of the chord, a major or minor third up from the root
Fifth - the fifth factor of the chord, a fifth (perfect, dim., or aug.), up from the root
Seventh - the seventh factor of the chord; a seventh (major, minor, or dim.) up from the root

Position - what inversion a chord is in.

As in, “What position is this chord in?” “First inversion”

Just like triads, we have:

Root position: root is in the bass
1st inversion: third is in the bass
2nd inversion: fifth is in the bass

And now, because we have a fourth note, we can invert it one more time:
3rd inversion: seventh is in the bass

Something that will make recognizing 7th chords in inversion is to make sure that you are
confident in your chord clubs! Knowing these will help you find the Root quickly.

Special VIP guest

Chord club (triad) star, the 7th

C E G B

D F A C

E G B D

F A C E

G B D F

A C E G

B D F A
 Root position First inversion

This is Cm7, in root This is Cm7, in first

position. inversion.

The root, C, is in the The third, Eb, is

bass (lowest- in the bass
sounding voice) (lowest-sounding voice)

Second inversion Third inversion

This is Cm7, in This is Cm7, in

second inversion. third inversion.

The fifth, G, is The seventh, Bb,

in the bass is in the bass
(lowest-sounding (lowest-sounding
voice) voice)

Just like triads, we indicate inversion in the jazz chord symbols by using a slash.
The top symbol indicates a full chord; the bottom symbol indicates a SINGLE NOTE!

Remember, the position of the top three voices (soprano, alto, and tenor) doesn’t matter;
what is in the BASS is what is important.
FIGURED BASS for 7th chords
Just like with triads, the figured bass numbers we use refer to the intervals above the bass.
These are easy to see when the notes are arranged in close stacked thirds; the intervals are
shown in blue in the images below.

Because a seventh chord has four notes where a triad only has three, we must use different
numbers from the triads to indicate that we mean a seventh chord, not a triad.

A root position A first-inversion

seventh chord will have seventh chord will
a 7 under it; this is short have 6 5 under it; this is
for “7 5 3”. short for “6 5 3”.

Just like the triad, we are Just like the triad, we

leaving out the 5 and the omit the 3, but we have
3, but we can’t just leave it to include the 5 with the
completely blank because 6 because in this
we have to indicate that position, that “5” is
it’s a 7th! referring to the seventh
of the chord!

A second-inversion A third-inversion
seventh chord will have seventh chord will have
4 3 under it; this is 4 2 under it; this is
short for “6 4 3” short for “6 4 2”.

We can’t omit the 3 here Just like the

for two reasons: second-inversion, we can’t
omit the bottom number
--it would make it look because we already use “6
just like a triad in second 4” for a second-inversion
inversion (that’s already triad.
6 4)
In this case, the seventh is
--We have to include the bass voice; the “2” is
the 3 because that is the actually referring to the
number referring to root, but because that 2nd
the 7th of the chord. is the inverse of a 7th, this
makes it extremely clear
that the chord is a seventh
chord, not a triad.
Here is a handy chart to remember!

Full Figured Bass Abbreviation Example using C7 Jazz chord symbol

(bass on the left)

7 7 C E G Bb C7
5
3

6 6 E G Bb C C7/E
5 5
3

6 4 G Bb C E C7/G
4 3
3

6 4 Bb C E G C7/Bb
4 2
2
Putting it all together! Here is a chart of all inversions for triads and seventh chords.

Chord and position full abbreviation Jazz chord symbol using

figured G° and G°7 as example
bass

Triad, root 5 (nothing) G° (G, B♭, D♭)

3

Triad, 1st inversion 6 6 G°/B♭

3

Triad, 2nd inversion 6 6 G°/D♭

4 4

7th, root 7 7
5 G°7 (G, B♭, D♭, F♭)
3

7th, 1st inversion 6 6

5 5 G°7/B♭
3

7th, 2nd inversion 6 4

4 3 G°7/D♭
3

7th, 3rd inversion 6 4

4 2 G°7/F♭
2