You've got the idea there. Probably the best reason for using inversions is because you want the bottom and top notes of the chords to make nice little melodies as they go along. The middle notes are less important. And as you say, sometimes sticking to first inversion chords means you get big ugly jumps in the top and bottom notes and it sounds wrong. Usually fiddling with some different inversions can sort that without losing the flow of the chords.
The technique is actually well-known and is called "voice leading" but I wouldn't worry about that because that's another of those technical music things that can get very complicated very quickly. Just stick to "The top chord notes and preferably the bottom notes too should make a nice melodic flow".
Steve
The technique is actually well-known and is called "voice leading" but I wouldn't worry about that because that's another of those technical music things that can get very complicated very quickly. Just stick to "The top chord notes and preferably the bottom notes too should make a nice melodic flow".
Steve