Slash Chords: Consonant to Dissonant

Photo Credit: sixninepixels

Awhile back I wrote a post about slash chords. I was reading an interesting article, Slash Chords - Part II Beyond Western Harmony by Chaim Burstein. Here's an excerpt:

• 20th Century and the Avant-Garde

Slash chords can be a great way to get away from your typical diatonic chord progressions. One of my favorite ways to use slash chords almost completely disregards Western harmonic concepts. In the prior article on slash chords, we were only concerned with slash chords that do not appear as some form of a chord inversion. Today we are going to discuss every possible combination of triads over bass notes...

Below you'll find a chart that contains every possible major triad and bass note combination. I've organized it from what I find to be the most consonant to the most dissonant. Each new chord is labeled in levels of dissonance, with Level 1 being the least dissonant and Level 12 containing the most dissonant harmonies. This chart was created using only a piano and my ears.

• Slash Chords Levels: Consonant (1) to Dissonant (12) 

Level 1 

C/C played C/EGC

Level 2

F/C played C/FAC

Level 3

Ab/C = C/EbAbC

Level 4

G/C = C/DGB

Level 5

Eb/C = C/EbGBb

Level 6

Bb/C = C/DFBb

Level 7

A/C = C/EAC#

Level 8

D/C = C/F#AD

Level 9

E/C = C/G#BE

Level 10

B/C = C/F#BD#

Level 11

Db/C = C/FAbDb

Level 12 = C/F#A#C#

Another way to use this chart is to increase or decrease the level of dissonance perceived by the listener. This can be very effective at high points in an arrangement... increase the level of dissonance with each new melody note. Try playing these on a piano and notice how the dissonance increases each time a new chord voicing is played. The top voice can act as the root, third or fifth of a chord. This gives you three different ways to harmonize any melody note at any given level of dissonance.

• Harmonizing the note E natural three different ways

L.H. / R.H.

F/GCE

D/AC#E

A/G#BE

In case you missed it, here's an article I wrote on How-Do-I-Harmonize-These-Melodies.

You'll want to pick up a copy of The 300pg Piano by Ear Home Study Course to learn about chords, melodies, harmony and more music theory answers to your questions.

Hope you'll try these chords and see how they sound to your ears.

Wishing you all the best with your piano practice!





"The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you." B.B.King

Slash Chords

What are slash chords?

* Here's my definition of a slash chord:
Giving you an alternative bass note, we say A over E, for example. The chord looks like this: A/E So, play A in the r.h. and E in the l.h.

* Here's an online definition of slash chords at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slash_chord
"In popular music a slash chord or slashed chord is a chord whose bass note or inversion is indicated by the addition of a slash and the letter of the bass after the root note letter"...

* Piano Chord Symbols: Slash Chords by Duane Shinn
Great video showing you what slash chords are all about

Piano Chord Symbols: Slash Chords

* Use Slash Chords, Diminished Sound in Gospel Music
Play:
C/ C E G
B/ B E G#
A/ C E A
F#/ A D F#
G/ B D G

* LGM Definition of Slash Chord
A slash chord is nothing more than a chord with an alternate bass note.
They're also called compound chords.

When you see a chord like A/E, the first character is the chord and the second character after the slash is the bass note, so A/E would be an A chord with an E bass note instead of an A bass note.

Some of the most common types of slash chords are inversion based, meaning that one of the notes already in the chord triad are used for the bass note.
G/B, D/F#, A/C#, A/E...all are inversions of the chord but using either the 3rd note of the 5th note as the bass note instead of the root note.

Some slash chords are non-inversion based, like B/E. The B triad is B, D#, F#...there's no E there BUT if you add extensions to the triad to make, say, a BMaj9/E, then you've got B, D# and F# as well as C# and E so BMaj9/E becomes inversion based.

http://www.learngospelmusic.com/forums/index.php/topic,51740.0

So, C/G means play G chord with your left hand and a C chord with your right.

* Chord Charts At LGM

Slash chord chart #1:

http://www.learngospelmusic.com/forums/index.php/topic,55476.0.html


Slash chord chart #2:

http://www.learngospelmusic.com/forums/index.php/topic,55491.0.html

Slash chord chart #3:

http://www.learngospelmusic.com/forums/index.php/topic,55694.0.html


http://www.learngospelmusic.com/forums/index.php/topic,55603.0.html

slash chords

http://www.ibreathemusic.com/cat/3

http://www.learngospelmusic.com/forums/index.php/topic,52634.0.html



* Duane has an Ebook on Power Chords

http://www.ebookexplorer.com/book_1971.html

* FOUR PART CHORDS OVER ROOT - Chord Voicings

REMEMBER: for these chords you'll want to play a 4-note chord in your RH over your root in the LH. Also you can invert that chord in your RH to any inversion you'd like unless otherwise noted.

Em7 / C = Cmaj9 spelled out.. C/EGBD
note: another way to think about this one is to play a minor 7th chord off of the 3rd in your RH and the root in your LH

Ebmaj7 / C = Cm9 spelled out.. C/EbGBbD
note: another way to think about this one is to play a major 7th chord off the minor 3rd in your RH and the root in your LH

Bm7b5 / G = G9 spelled out.. G/BDFA
note: another way to think about this one is to play a minor 7 flat 5 chord off the 3rd in your RH and the root in your LH

Fmaj7b5 / G = G13 spelled out.. G/FABE
note: another way to think about this one is to play a major 7 flat 5 chord off the flat 7 in your RH and the root in your LH
note: only root and 2nd inversion should be used on the chord in the RH

Dm7 / G = G9sus4 or G11 <-- this is a HOT chord that I use all the time I substitute the 3 chord in a 3-6-2 progression for this sus chord (I'll post this later)
note: another way to think about this one is to play a minor 7th chord off the 5th in your RH and the root in your LH
note: spelled out.. G/DFAC

Fmaj7 / G = G13sus4 <-- Another HOT chord I use a lot too. I substitute the 5 chord in a 2-5-1 progression for this sus chord
note: another way to think about this one is to play a major 7th chord off the flat 7 in your RH and the root in your LH
note: spelled out.. G/FACE

Fm7b5 / G = G7 (b9 #5)
note: another way to think about this one is to play a minor 7 flat 5 chord off the flat 7 in your RH and the root in your LH
note: spelled out.. G/FAbBEb

Bmaj7b5 / G = G7 (#9 #5)
note: another way to think about this one is to play a major 7 flat 5 chord off the 3rd in your RH and the root in your LH
note: only root position should be used on the chord in the RH
note: spelled out.. G/BD#FA# or G/BEbFBb (the first way is the best way to look at it b/c you can see that the 9 and 5 are sharped)

Fmaj7#5 / G = G13 (#11)
note: another way to think about this one is to play a major 7 sharp 5 chord off the flat 7 in your RH and the root in your LH
note: only root position should be used on the chord in the RH
note: spelled out.. G/FAC#E

http://www.learngospelmusic.com/forums/index.php/topic,55491.0.html

* Final Note

I have found that most people who chord songs in the LH/RH format do so because they play by ear. Many folks want to read sheet music and read chord symbols. It's great to have the chords written out for voicing purposes. Using chord symbols for posting chords is easier, but many want chords written out so that they can understand. Learning alternative bass notes will add so much more to your playing. When I first started playing the piano and soloing, I used sheet music. When I came aboard worship teams and gained experience playing with a bass player, I learned to read chord charts and gladly welcomed slash chords, so as not to step on the bass players toes! lol

All the best,

~ LadyD