Slash chord

What it means

A slash chord is a chord symbol in which the bass note is specifically given after a slash. Before the slash stands the chord, after it the lowest note. C/E thus means a C major chord with E in the bass. The notation comes from jazz and popular music, where chord symbols are the usual notation for accompaniments.

Musical use

Two cases are to be distinguished. If the given bass note is a chord tone, the symbol designates an inversion: C/E is the first inversion, the six-three chord; C/G the second, the six-four chord. This corresponds to what figured-bass notation expresses with numbers, only in a different notation.

If the bass note, by contrast, is not a chord tone, a compound sonority results: a triad lies over a foreign bass note. This is a formation of its own that cannot be understood as an inversion and often represents a pedal point or a descending bass line over which the harmonies change. Such sonorities often have a colour of their own and are used precisely because of their floating quality.

The slash chord is to be distinguished from the chord inversion in the narrower sense: every inversion can be written as a slash chord, but not every slash chord is an inversion. And unlike figured-bass notation, which starts from the bass and gives the intervals above it, the chord symbol starts from the chord and additionally names the bass.

Slash chords notate inversions, pedal points, or chords over foreign bass notes, for instance C/G for C major with G in the bass, or D/C for D major over C. They ease the reading of lead sheets, because the desired bass note is immediately recognizable.

Performance practice

With slash chords, watch the bass note first — it determines how the sonority works and is easily overlooked when reading. When playing together with a bassist, leave the bass to them and avoid doubling the chord's root in the left hand. And with successive slash chords, follow the bass line: it is often the actual idea of the progression.