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In
music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...
, especially modern
popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...
, a slash chord or slashed chord, also compound chord, is a chord whose bass note or inversion is indicated by the addition of a slash and the letter of the bass note after the
root In vascular plants, the roots are the plant organ, organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often bel ...
note letter. It does not indicate "or". For example, a C
major chord In music theory, a major chord is a chord (music), chord that has a root (chord), root, a major third, and a perfect fifth. When a chord comprises only these three notes, it is called a major Triad (music), triad. For example, the major triad bui ...
(C) in
second inversion The second Inverted chord, inversion of a Chord (music), chord is the Voicing (music), voicing of a Triad (music), triad, seventh chord, or ninth chord in which the fifth (chord), fifth of the chord is the bass note. In this inversion, the bass ...
is written C/G or C/G bass, which reads "C slash G", "C over G" or "C over a G bass". Some chords may not otherwise be notated, such as A/A. Thus, a slash chord may also indicate the chord form or shape and an additional bass note. In popular music, where the exact arrangement of notes is less important than some other forms, slash chords are generally used only when the specific bass note is important. A common example in guitar based music is in the I-V-vi progression, in which the V chord is a passing chord. By placing the third of the V chord in the bass, a descending scale, also known as a walkdown, is created in the bass. For example, in the key of G major this would be the chords G, D/F, Em. That progression has the descending bassline G, F, E. This type of slash chord contains
diatonic Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are used to characterize scales. The terms are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair ...
ally occurring notes. In traditional Classical notation it would be written using
figured bass Figured bass is musical notation in which numerals and symbols appear above or below (or next to) a bass note. The numerals and symbols (often accidental (music), accidentals) indicate interval (music), intervals, chord (music), chords, and non- ...
symbols. Another commonly used type of slash chord in chord progressions is the minor key progression i – i/VII bass – iv/VI bass – V. In the key of A minor, this chord progression would be notated A minor, A minor/G, D Minor/F, E major (or E7). This descending
bassline Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, and classical music, for the low-pitched P ...
moving diatonically from i to V is a stock feature in popular music that is used in numerous songs.


In easy arrangements

Some arrangers use slash chords to avoid writing chords more complex than triads, to make arrangements easier to play for beginners. Thus, in a song in the key of C major, when the arranger wishes the chord-playing musicians to perform a ii7 chord, rather than write Dm7 (which some beginners might not be familiar with), the arranger could write F/D. This enables a beginning chord-playing musician to perform a Dm7 chord even if they are not familiar with the fingering for seventh chords. The use of slash chords can enable beginning musicians to perform quite complex chords. For example, even though a beginner may not know what a
dominant seventh Domination or dominant may refer to: Society * World domination, structure where one dominant power governs the planet * Colonialism in which one group (usually a nation) invades another region for material gain or to eliminate competition * Ch ...
flat ninth chord is, they will be able to play this chord if it is notated in slash notation, as long as they are familiar with the
diminished seventh In classical music from Western culture, a diminished seventh () is an interval (music), interval produced by Diminution, narrowing a minor seventh by a chromatic semitone,Benward & Saker (2003). ''Music: In Theory and Practice, Vol. I'', p.54. ...
chord. In the key of C, a G79 chord could be notated in slash notation as B°7/G (or B°7/G bass).


In jazz

Some sources notate slash chords with a horizontal line, although this is discouraged as this type of notation can also imply a polychord. While almost all pop and rock usages of slash chords are intended to be read as a chord with a bass note underneath it other than the root of the chord, in
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
and
jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric gui ...
, sometimes a chord notated as F/A is intended to be read as a polychord; in this example, the polychord would be an F major chord (the notes F, A, and C) and an A major chord (the notes A, C, and E) played simultaneously. To avoid ambiguity in a jazz or fusion chart, some arrangers use the notation "bass" to indicate when the second note (after the slash) is a bass note. Thus, F/A bass indicates an F major chord with an A bass note, whereas F/A may indicate a polychord with an F major chord and an A major chord.


See also

*
Chord chart A chord chart (or chart) is a form of musical notation that describes the basic harmonic and rhythmic information for a song or tune. It is the most common form of notation used by professional session musicians playing jazz or popular music. It ...
* V9sus4 chord * Chordioid


References


Further reading

* {{Chords Chords