The wonderful world of music theory

Sonic Academy was by far the best thing that I could have done for my music. Great work on everything you guys do.br
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I have been going back and relearning all of this fundamental music theory with all the great tutorials available here. Reestablishing this basic knowledge is really helping me progress as a songwriter. One question though:br
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With all of the inversions you can do to a triad chord, how can you tell which note is the root?

I don’t think there’s a really a quick solution or rule of thumb to know that, except that you’re actually playing the same notes but use themnbsp;in a combination over different octaves.nbsp;

generally you look at the key you are playing in. that should help shed light on the actual chords.br
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-r

i think once you get the hang of theory as a whole it becomes more obvious.br
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Take a look at the C chord. br
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C E Gbr
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So, now you know the C chord is made up of those notes. No matter what order you put them in (e.g. E G C, or G C E) it’s still the same notes, so still the same chord. br
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So you might ask. "ok, so what is to stop me from thinking the E G C is a E minor chord with an augmented 5th?"br
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that would lead us back to the key we are playing in and what fits best.br
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So, if I were to try and make a simple rule, just take a note and go up a major 3rd (4 semitones). if that isn’t one of the other notes, it’s not the root.br
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-r