How to Play a 1-4-5 First Inversion Chord for Voicing

Using chord inversions in your songs can make them sound balanced and fresh. With the right voicing, you can seamlessly stitch together these inversions, grounding your melodies and background instruments in a solid harmonic progression. The 1-4-5 chord progression is probably the most basic progression in contemporary music. To spice it up, try starting the sequence in first-inversion.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Pick a key for your progression. For simplicity's sake, we'll consider the white-note chords of C-Major.

2. Place your fingers on the 1 chord, which in this case is C-Major (C, E and G).

3. Shift your fingers up to play the chord in first inversion. Instead of starting on C, the new chord starts on E, followed by G and then C.

4. Move onto the 4 chord, which in the key of C is F-Major. For the best voice leading, play the chord in root position (F, A and then C).

5. Adjust your fingers once more to play the final chord in the sequence, the 5 chord. For the right voicing, play this chord in second inversion. Because we're still in the key of C, this is the G-Major chord, which goes D, G and then B.

6. Return to your original chord, which was the first-inversion 1 chord. Your fingers should once again be on E, G and C.

Tips & Warnings

• When you play the progression using inversions, your fingers won't have to cover as much ground on the keyboard as they normally would.