Worship, Serve, Lead: 3 Key Tasks of a Worship Team Member
September 17, 2014
Video: “Power Chords” (no3) for Acoustic Guitar
May 6, 2015Slash Chords for Guitar
One thing I’m often asked about— and I remember wrestling with as a beginning guitarist— is how to play “slash chords” on guitar. Slash chords are those strange little things you see on guitar chord sheets that have two notes pushed together, separated by a slash. These little chord variations, D/F# or G/B, can really help to add an extra layer of excellence to how you play your instrument. Here’s the how, why and what of slash chords for guitar.
Musical Theory
How to Read Slash Chords
So, what is a “slash chord”? Let’s take the D/F# that I mentioned a second ago. D/F# is read as “D over F sharp.” What this means is that you are playing a D chord with an F# note on the bottom (the bass note). Here’s a quick diagram of what a D/F# looks like (in its most basic form).
One thing to note about slash chords is that if you’re playing guitar along with a bass or piano, it might not be strictly necessary to play the note after the slash. If the full chord is hard to play or you just don’t know it yet, you can always play the chord before the slash and let the piano or bass play the bottom note. So, for a D/F#, you could just play D. This is also one of the reasons that I tell any bassist I play with to almost always play the Right side of the slash.
Why We Use Slash Chords
Slash chords can add smoothness and color to an arrangement. The most common use of slash chords is to smoothly “walk” the bass line up or down a scale. For example, the chord progressions Am, G/B, C is simply walking the bass note from A to B to C so that it’s a smooth melodic line. If you just played Am, G, C, you would notice that the bass line walks from A down to G, and then from A it jumps up C. This isn’t wrong, necessarily, it just isn’t smooth and connected. Slash chords can also add a lot of color— nice, different different sounds— to an arrangement by adding variety to some otherwise very simple chord progressions.
Common Slash Chords in Modern Worship
Here are a few of the slash chords we see commonly in modern worship songs:
Chord Progressions:
- In the key of A: Bm, A/C#, D
Chord Progressions:
- In the key of C: G, C/E, F | Am, C/E, F
Chord Progressions:
- In the key of G: G, D/F#, Em
Chord Progressions:
- In the key of E: E, E/D#, C#m, A
Chord Progressions:
- In the key of E: A, E/G#, F#m
Chord Progressions:
- In the key of C or G: Am, G/B, C
- In the key of G: G, G/B, C | D, G/B C
I hope this little post has been helpful. If you have any questions, or think I missed a common chord, please feel free to leave a comment! Also, check back soon, because I’ll be writing another post soon about alternate or “cheater” chords that I use often.
