Fingerings and movements
When you are playing chords on the piano it is important that you use the right fingers. The reason for using a specific fingering isn't because the chord couldn’t be played otherwise, but making the movement between different chords work smoothly.
The usability of inverted chords
A very common practice when playing piano chords is the use of inverted chords together with the standard ones. Inverted chords are alternative versions of a chord with the tones in different order.
A chord progression could be much more economical concerning the movements by including inverted chords. The pictures below illustrate the advantage of having the whole hand involved and by so having fingers "inside" the chord hand that are directly available then changing to the next chord.
C chord with ring and index finger "standby"
Change to G/B with a small movement
Change to F/C with another small movement
The chord sequence in the three pictures above are C - G - F, but with alternative bass notes. By doing this you don’t have to “jump around” as you would otherwise.
See also How to combine piano chords ›