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have to play roots, as demonstrated by these songs, was highly influential on Paul McCartney's input into The
Beatles from the mid-1960s onward.

Ascending and Descending Chord Sequences
Inversions can play a significant role in creating ascending and descending chord sequences. Many popular songs
have upward or downward progressions where the bass moves step-wise by a semitone (half-step) or tone (full step):
'Whatever', 'All You Need Is Love', 'I Am The Walrus', 'Our House', 'Bell Bottom Blues', 'Whiter Shade Of Pale', 'Go
Now', 'Pictures Of Lily', 'Accidents Will Happen', 'Dear Prudence', 'Tales Of Brave Ulysses', 'White Room',
'Awaiting On You All', 'Turn Turn Turn'. 'Chestnut Mare' has two descending chord sequences in the same key; the
first starts at I and goes down the scale; the second starts at IV and goes down the scale.
Let's take a look at how this can be done, beginning with these notes: C B A G F E D. If we harmonized this by
using the primary chords of the scale and treating each note as a root note, the result would be:

I VII VI V IV II II

C Bdim Am G F Em Dm

cbagfed

rrrrrrr

Try strumming these chords at a medium tempo, two beats to each. This is a little stodgy and predictable, and the
awkward diminished chord between C and Am would be horrible to sing over.
By using an inversion, we could play this:

I V VI V IV III II

C G/B Am G F Em Dm

cbagf ed

r 1st r r r r r

This is the most common way of harmonizing a bassline using these notes. In fact, it is possible to harmonize this
bassline using only the three major chords:

I V IV I IV I V

C G/B F/A C/G F C/E D/G

cbag f ed

r 1st 1st 2nd r 1st 2nd

We could use this technique for a verse and introduce the minor chords for a chorus or bridge. Here's another
possibility using just the three minor chords:

VI III VI III II II II

Am/C Em/B Am Em/G Dm/F Em Dm

cbagfed

1st 2nd r 1st 1st r r

In this example, fewer chords are used: