5. Chords at Your Fingertips: How to Practice Chords and Inversions Systematically

LESSON PREVIEW

The exercise I'm about to show you is one of the most powerful I know. Let me explain.

In a previous lesson you learned how to build 21 different chord qualities. The focus was on understanding.

This tutorial picks up the story from there, but here the emphasis is on practicing. I'm going to show you how to get truly comfortable with these chords so they're literally at your fingertips when you need them.

Then, too, you'll practice the chords in as many keys as you feel ready to tackle, which will help you to transpose songs into whatever keys are best for your singing voice. This is important because so far, for simplicity's sake, we've spent a lot of our time playing in the key of C.

What's more, you'll practice all positions of each chord -- root position and the various inversions. Because, as you're discovering, it's essential that you be able to invert chords quickly and easily.

(Here's a recent exchange between a student and myself on this very subject.)

Finally, since you don't have to worry about rhythm or other complications, this exercise is a great opportunity to master the relaxed, gravity-based, technique we always talk about.

So, trusting that you're now motivated and raring to go, let's get to it.

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