I believe students can understand figured bass symbols more quickly and easily by thinking that, for example, 4 3 really means 'seventh chord, fifth in bass' rather than “second inversion of a seventh chord”. Is the bass note the root, third, fifth or seventh of the chord? I would like to suggest another way to describe the meaning of this symbol that may be more helpful in indicating what chord is present:Īlways ask yourself the following two questions:ĭoes this symbol imply a triad or a seventh chord? But what does “second inversion” mean? That term does not tell you quickly what the chord is, or what the other notes are.

For example, the symbol 4 3 is often thought about as meaning a seventh chord in second inversion. This means that when looking at a figured bass number, you can grasp a lot about what is going on, as long as you translate the meaning of the numbers in a clear way. In other words, in an inversion of a chord in a piece of music, only the note in the bass voice matters - the notes in the upper voices can be in any order above that bass note whatsoever, and do not have to follow in order from the bottom up. When the notes of a chord get put into the upper voices (usually into a four-voice SATB voicing, or a four-voice keyboard voicing) they do NOT have to go in order as described above. While this is initially a good way to learn what an inversion is, I do not believe it is the best way to think about inversions when actually analyzing or writing four-part music, such as realizing a figured bass. The notes would then read up from the bottom in order: third, fifth, root.

When we first learn how to make a first inversion of a triad, for example, we typically stack the notes of the chord up from the root on the staff, and then take the root off the bottom and move it up an octave, leaving the third on the bottom. Most students think of these numeric symbols as representing 'first inversion', 'second inversion', etc., of a triad or of a seventh chord. Theory students often have to realize harmonic progressions indicated by a figured bass: a bass line of notes on the staff, with numbers stacked underneath certain notes.

Flat 3 music symbols