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Jun 30, 2023 · Slash chords make a dramatic difference in songs. It helps to get comfortable knowing how to play them and also learning how they SOUND. Pick a chord, look at the notes of that chord, and try playing the chord in your right-hand while alternating the bass notes in your left hand!
- Chords Too Low. This first mistake is fairly obvious and happens when a pianist plays their chords too low on the instrument. Notice in the example below that both hands are written in the bass clef.
- Closed Chord Gaps. Another mistake that less experienced students often make is to place too much space between the hands. Jonny describes this as “closed chord gaps.”
- Playing In One Zone. Another chord mistake that amateur players often make is to restrict their playing to one zone only. There is nothing actually wrong with the following example, but if you were to play in this register for an entire song, it would quickly become repetitive and monotonous.
- Too Many 3rds. The next chord mistake we’ll discuss is less obvious, but it involves the concept of “doubling.” When we discussing doubling in music theory, we are referring to chord tones that appear in more than one octave in the same chord voicing.
The first reason is that slash chords can give you access to truly awesome sounds. For example, slash chords on piano give the musician the ability to use passing chords, walking bass lines or to create their perfectly unique sound, and then share this information in a very simple way.
Do I play both chords? Do I pick one or the other? Do I play a completely different chord? The good news is that a musician at any level can learn “slash chords”, play them fairly easily, and even learn how and when to write them into a new arrangement or composition. How Do You Play a Slash Chord?
Slash chords are endlessly confusing to students, so I wanted to give you a little lesson on how to read and play them. I teach Slash Chords in my Upper Hands Piano BOOK 2, but if you aren't using my series or need a refresher on how to read and play them, please watch my tutorial video:
Simply put, slash chords are chords where your left and right hands play different things. If you’re familiar with some basics of chord-based playing, you know that a normal major or minor chord situation means you play bass notes in the other hand, and that they correspond to the name of the chord.
People also ask
Do slash chords make a difference?
What is a slash chord?
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Can you play a slash chord in a major triad?
Slash Chords are actually quite simple to understand, they are analysed like any other chord – by looking at the notes that comprise them. Slash Chords are notated as Chord/Note. So a D/C reads ‘D slash C’ or ‘D over C’ and is a D Major Triad over a C Bass Note.
