Slash Chords and Pedal Point
A slash in a chord symbol tells you which note goes at the bottom. Hold that bottom note still while the chords above it move and you get a pedal point, which is one of the cheapest ways to make a progression sound like it was arranged.
- 2 devices
- chord over bass
- the bass leads
which styles use it
- Singer-songwriter
- Film music
- Gospel
- Deep house
In short
A slash chord is written as a chord, a slash, and a bass note: C/E means play a C chord with an E underneath. Often that is simply an inversion. Sometimes the bass note is not in the chord at all, which gives a richer sound with a name that would be clumsy to write out. A pedal point keeps one bass note fixed while the chords above it change.
The bass note is what your ear calls home. Move it under a chord that stays still, or hold it under chords that move, and you are steering the listener without touching the melody.
How to build it
- Read the slash as an instruction to the bass
Everything before the slash is the chord in your right hand. Everything after it is one note in your left. That is the whole rule.
- Use inversions for smooth bass lines
C, C/E, F walks the bass up by step instead of jumping. Written as slash chords it is easier to read than figured bass and means the same thing.
- Hold a pedal to build tension
Keep the tonic or the dominant in the bass and change chords over it. The clash between the moving harmony and the fixed note is what creates the lift, and releasing it lands hard.
Where you run into this
- In singer-songwriter guitar parts, where a descending bass line carries a whole verse.
- In dance and film music, where a pedal under a build keeps everything anchored while the top gets busy.
- On any chart written by someone who cares what the bass player does.
The two side by side
- C/E, an inversion: the E is part of the C chord
- F/G, not an inversion: the G is outside the F chord and gives a dominant flavour
- A pedal on C under Csus2, G/C and F/C: three chords, one bass note
- The same three chords with their own roots in the bass, so you hear what the pedal was doing
Keep going
Everything in chords
- Triads
- Seventh Chords
- Chord Symbols
- Inversions
- Voicings
- Extensions and Alterations
- Sus, Add and Power Chords
- Slash Chords and Pedal Point
- Polychords