Originally Posted by Split Level
... whatever you put in the bass it will change the overal effect a little or a lot ... Play a D major against a B bass or a C over a D bass ... It's what Pro writers do all the time and it's known as Bass Inversions.

I believe this is called "Jazz" wink That D Major with B bass is a.k.a. "B minor 7th" chord. I teach my students this all the time, it's all about overlapping Major and Minor triads. Play a "C" and add an "Eb Major" triad on top, and you wind up with "C minor 7." Or play a C with E minor triad, and you get "C Major 7." Amazing how both chords Eb Major and E Minor, which are dissonant in relation to each other, both work over a "C" note!
Obviously it works vice versa too. Keep going to 9th chords - those are my fave - just two Major triads overlapping (like C Major and G Major).

This is especially usefull when improvising, thinking in terms of arpeggios and modal scales. 11th chords like "C11," which seems complicated to some folks, are just the C Major triad with a Bb Major on top. Just a fun, different way to visualize chords!

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