Chord inversions
A handy tool to give your chords variety and smoothness is to use inversions. Inversions give you the option to play chords in different positions without changing the quality of the chord. To invert a chord you take the lowest note and move it to the top of the chord, allowing the note previously above the lowest note of the first position to become the lowest note of the next position.
Triads
Triads have three notes and therefore three inversion options:
Root position, named that because the letter name of the chord C is the lowest or at the root of the chord.
1st inversion, the C has been moved to the top of the chord and E becomes the lowest note.
2nd inversion, the E has been moved to the top of the chord and the G is now the lowest note of the chord.