few readers have asked about slashchords over the last couple of months so Ithought it would be a good topic forGuitar Cool. No, Slash chords are not

named after the legendary Guns n' Roses'guitarist - although he does play these types ofchords.They are chords that you see in musicthat look like F/A, or G/B.Verbally musicians callthem'F slash Al or 'F over Al or 'G with a B bassiThere is hardly a modern music chart thathasn't got one or two of these types of chordscontained in it, knowing what these symbolsmean and how to deal with them is oart ofbeing a good musician, so take the time tolearn them well.

Typically people ask if the F/A means to playeither F or A.The answer is no.What the symbolmeans is to play an F triad or chord as the topnotes, while the A means to add an A as thelowest note, which can be seen in Example 1 .

It can be clearly seen you have an F open-type chord at the first position with an open Aas its bass note in that example.You play all thenotes at once. I won't get too far into the theoryof why chords are written like this as it wouldtake a few pages to discuss.Just so long as youknow what to do when you see such chordsymbols is- the most important thing, ratherthan understanding the complicated theory.

Example 2 shows an F chord with G as itslowest note (F/G). Example 3 is C/G, a simpleopen C chord with a G bass. Example 4 showsC as a bar with an A bass, and Example 5 showsC with a Bb bass.

Exercise 6 is a finger-style progression thatis commonly heard in modern music. Noticethere is a C chord on top all the way throughwith a descending diatonic bass line. lt is funto play - make sure you are using the correctright hand fingers as indicated; p = thumb,i = index finger, m = middle finger, a. = ringfinger.'Simile' means to continue the finger-.picking in a similar fashion for the followingtvvo measures,

Exercise 7 is a common rock-style chordprogression using slash chords. This type ofprogression would be played in a band withthe bass player playing the static A bass notewhile the guitar plays the chords on top, whichwould ring through the whole measure.

Ex2

F/a

Slash/Chords

E x l

F IA

. 'Slash chords are not too dif f idult to' understand, but many people find them difficultto hear in their favourite songs, so that mighttake a bit of practice.When faced with a slash

. chord in a new song you are playing, takethe time to work it orjt first as many are notstandard chord shapes that you might be usedto playing. Find a suitable chord shape and thencut it_ down to only three notes to make it easierto finger,thbn add the bass note.lfyou are usinga non-standard fingering the new slash chord

E x 3

CIG

might take a bit of practice getting into and outof it. Above all, just have fun with slash chords.

Thanks again to those who have contactedme recently. Your feedback and questionscontinue to give me niany ideas for futureart icles and lessons.

Kevin Downing is a guitarist, teacher, and outhorHe can be contacted through his website at www.guitar.co.nz or P O Box 4586, Palmerston North.4442.

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