Chord Extensions and

inversions.
BY TERRY/HELGA
What are chord Extensions?

Extended chords create a richer, more harmonically complex sound

than basic major and minor triads. Chord extensions also provide
more voice leading possibilities and make chord progressions sound
more interesting. Extended chords have notes that extend further than
a three-note triad and the octave. More specifically, an extension
occurs when you extend a chord beyond the 7th note of the scale.
They are also built by stacking thirds on top of a triad.
Some examples.
The available chord extensions
are the 7th, 9th, 11th, and the
13th. The 13th is the farthest
extension diatonically possible
because it includes all seven
tonal degrees. The next
extension after the 13th would
reach the root of the chord one
octave higher.
 What is a chord inversion?

Up until now, all of the chords we’ve been talking about have started
on the root note, which is the same note as the name of the chord.
The starting note is the one that is the lowest in the chord, and then
the others build up on top of it.
If you have a GMaj7 chord, you know the lowest note in the chord is
the note G, for example. 
However, triads have three notes, seventh chords have four, and
extended chords can have up to six!
What if you wanted to start a chord on a note besides the root?
When you have a chord where the lowest note isn’t the note that the
chord is named after then this is what we call a chord inversion.
A chord inversion takes a different starting note (also called the bass
note) and builds the chord up from there.
Let’s take the Cmin7 chord that we listed above as an example.
It has 4 notes, and it can start on any one of the four.
Here is a Cmin7 with each note (C, Eb, G, Bb) as the lowest:
                          Chord inversions of C minor 7
Types of Chord Inversions

Each of these types of chord inversion has a different name depending on which note is the
lowest note in the chord. Here are the names of the different inversions:
Root position – The root is the lowest note
First inversion – The third is the lowest note
Second inversion – The fifth is the lowest note
Third inversion – The seventh is the lowest note
You can also have fourth, fifth and sixth chord inversions and we’ll touch on these briefly too.