Slash Chords Jazz Piano Lesson | PianoGroove.com
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 10 фев 2025
- ► Free Jazz Piano Crash Course:
www.pianogroov...
Slash Chords Piano Tutorial:
All slash chords contain 2 bits of information. The first letter that is on the left hand side of the slash, indicates what chord should be played. The second letter that is on the right hand side of the slash indicates what note should be played in your left hand or in the bass.
In the first example we have C/E - this simply means a C major triad over an E in your left hand.
2 Categories Of Slash Chords:
There are 2 categories of slash chords:
The first category of slash chords is when the bass note is one of the primary chord tones of the chord to the left of the slash. When this is the case, the chord is simply an inversion.
The second category of slash chords is when the bass note is not part of the chord to the left of the slash. ie. the bass note is not one of the primary chord tones of the chord to the left of the slash. When this is the case, you should always analyse the chord as if the bass note is the root of the chord.
Slash Chords Are Commonly Used as Shorthand:
Something to be aware of is that slash chords are commonly used as shorthand. So if you are reading a lead sheet and you come across Cmaj13#11 - that is a lot of information to process. Alternatively, reading the chord as D/C tells you the exact same chord but just with much less information.
As you are exposed to more slash chords you will be able to quickly analyse them in terms of the extensions and the alterations.
7th Slash Chords:
It’s also common to have 7th chord within slash notation. These are dealt with in the exact same way that we deal with the triads.
If the bass note is one of the primary chord tones of the 7th chord to the left of the slash, ie. Root, 3rd, 5th, or 7th - then we simply play an inversion of the 7th chord.
Analyse the Bass Line Movement:
Slash chords are also commonly used to achieve specific step-wise or chromatic bass line movement. Whenever you come across a slash chord, analyse the bass line in the progression to see where it is going.
Looking at the opening bars of My One & Only Love that I was playing in the intro, I have highlighted the roots of the chords, or the implied bass notes. We can see that the slash chords create a descending step wise bass line.
The Best Way to Practise Slash Chords:
I’d recommend flicking through your jazz fakebook and when you find slash chord, analyse the chord and work out whether the bass note is part of the chord to the left of the slash. If it’s not then see if you can work out what chord is being implied.
Next examine the bass line movement and try to identify any step wise or chromatic bass lines.
Finally, try to play the measure where the slash chord appears.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
Your lessons are great,you actually play and show so we can learn in a timely manner,some others on yt spend so much time talking explaining every little nuance that they are irritating to watch.
you are the best techer.
Just stopping by to say that I love your channel, there's so much digestible information and you're excellent at teaching!
You're the best. That was so useful.
Wow! Two break throughs in one lesson for me. Amazing. Thx. Now I can noodle with The Real Book just playing one note base movements as I learn the melody, then come back and fill in the fuller left hand throwing in some Rootless Voicings when able to make this a GREAT lesson method.
Cool stuff,thx
I like these slash chords, but I think polytonality has a similar notation that uses that for showing two different chords at the same time. Maybe also as an easier notation for upper extensions.
I do like that Bb/C. It's something I play when I play at "Part of Your World." That harsh sounding one (I think E/C) reminded me of a lovely chord in the Rocky IV soundtrack. There was something else I wanted to note about, but forgot. I'll edit it in if I remember or rewatch the video again later.
Yes if it isn't an inversion it's often just short hand for an altered or extended chord, so much easier than working out the full chord manually
i am the 1000th like :)
Thank you, This has been an extremely helpful video for me. Once we have determined what the chord is or how we want to voice it, is it typical to notate it all down on staff paper in order to remember what we came up with?
in the song you are playing the slash cord is over another chord what does that mean
so good for me
Thanks a lot for the tutorial
Thank you,It was very useful, greetings from Ecuador.
Thanks Miguel... glad you found it helpful :-) PianoGroove
I am trying to play a song that has a slash chord of F/C that has a F at the bottom
So powerful
foarte interesant ,multumesc.
One thing I've always wondered about slash chords, is the 2nd letter really just the base note or does it really mean you could (if you wanted to) play that entire base note chord (or whatever notes of it you wanted) in the left hand, along with the all the notes of the other chord in the right hand? I read that somewhere many years ago and it stuck in my mind. But nobody seems to follow that or know anything about that. Maybe that was something from the Mandela effect, lol!
thanks for the useful info
So any 13th chord is a slash chord using the second method of slash chords?
can't seems to find your intro song, its a good piece
my one and only love
Look it up with Sting/ Leaving Las Vegas movie 😢 😭
+PianoGroove What app do you use for the key recognition of the keys that you're playing?
Hi There, the program is called midiculous. Cheers, PianoGroove
at3:17, is there a print mistake at the bar above? you played E G C, but the third one reads E F C?
Hi Koumi... yes my apologies, that is a print mistake. I am just inverting the notes of a C triad so the correct notes should be E-G-C. Thanks for pointing that out. All the best, PianoGroove :-)
I think that D/C is much a D7 third inversion than a C13(#11) here...
Gama Kitchi I think so too, but D/C is sometimes considered to be C13#11.
It's a shame that, as far as I can discern, you don't show accurate chord spellings on the black horizontal band above the upper keyboard. For instance at 8:36 shouldn't it say C D F# A, as in fact the notation shows, not C D Gb A? F# is the sharp 11 whereas Gb is the flat 12...no? For serious analysis, doesn't this detract quite substantially?
7:10
wow.. i get it now. holy shit..