The term sixth chord refers to two different kinds of chord, the first in classical music and the second in modern popular music. The original meaning of the term is a chord in first inversion, in other words with its third in the bass and its root a sixth above it. This is how the term is still used in classical music today, and in this sense it is called also a chord of the sixth. A first-inversion C major chord is shown below. Audio playback is not supported in your browser. You can . Audio playback is not supported in your browser. You can .