Bringing some life
to your LEFT hand!
‘SLASH’ chords
and BASS RUNS
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SLASH CHORDS
Very often you will see chord symbols written like this
F/G or F
G
Both these indicate that you are to play (in THIS case) an F CHORD in the
RIGHT hand and a G NOTE in the left hand (at the SAME time)
So F/G = RH CHORD / LH NOTE
OR F = RH CHORD
G LH NOTE
It helps if you say what it means out loud
For instance, if you see F/G say...”F OVER G”
(Right Hand being Top of piano and Left Hand the bottom)
So what are they all about?
Very often slash chords indicate that the left hand is going to play a BASS RUN
which will lead to the next chord. Imagine you are playing the part of the BASS
player
Try it out and you’ll see for yourself how much interest slash chords and bass
runs ADD to your piano playing.
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SLASH CHORD PRACTICE
Try the following chord sequence which uses a ‘SLASH CHORD’ bass line
C F G
CHORDS
USED
SLOW - HALF BEAT BOUNCE RHYTHM
C C/B C/A C/G
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and
C B A G
F F/E F/D F/C
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and
F E D C
G G/F G/E G/D
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and
G F E D
C C/B C/A C/G
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and
C B A G
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SLASH CHORDS PRACTICE PROGRESSIONS
Rhythm - Split Chord (FREEBIRD - Lynyrd Skynyrd)
G D/F# Em Em/D F C D D7 Repeat
Rhythm - Split Chord (WHITER SHADE OF PALE - Procul Harum)
C C/B C/A C/G F F/E F/D F/C G G/F G/E G/D
etc
Rhythm - Half Beat bounce (DON’T THINK TWICE IT’S ALRIGHT - Bob Dylan)
G D/F# Em Em/D C G D
Rhythm - Straight beat (SUNNY AFTERNOON - The Kinks)
Intro Dm Dm/C Dm/B Dm/Bb A A/G A/F A/E
Verse Dm C F C A A/G
A/F A/E Dm
Rhythm - SLOW Split Chord (YOU LOOK WONDERFUL TONIGHT - Eric Clapton)
G D/F# C/E D Repeat
*The above progressions are for improvisational purposes only.
You can purchase sheetmusic (and view the first page for free)
at www.sheetmusicdirect.com or www.musicnotes.com or www.musicroom.com
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SLASH CHORDS PRACTICE PROGRESSIONS
Rhythm - Half Beat Bounce (DON’T LOOK BACK IN ANGER - Oasis)
verse C G/B Am C/G F G C
Rhythm - Half Beat Bounce (MIND GAMES - John Lennon)
verse C G/B Am C/G F C D
Rhythm- Split Chord or Half Beat Bounce (MANDY - Barry Mannilow)
C Cmaj7 C Cmaj7 Dm Dm7
Bbmaj7 F/G G
Rhythm - Half Beat Bounce (HELLO - Lionel Richie)
Em Em/D Em/C Em/D Repeat
*The above progressions are for improvisational purposes only.
You can purchase sheetmusic (and view the first page for free)
at www.sheetmusicdirect.com or www.musicnotes.com or www.musicroom.com
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