D/C# etc.

[Paul Hird]

Can anyone point me in the right direction for the chord formations of D/C#, C/B etc. I did a search on the cafe with no luck and googled the information and I only seem to find these for guitar. Having trouble with the concept and actual meaning of one note over the other finding the transition.

Thanks

[Misty Stanley-Jones]

It means a D with a C# at the root. That would make it a D major 7 chord and it would have some combination of D, F#, A, and C#, with at least one C# as the lowest note. If you are playing in a group, the bass player would probably take care of it.

[jesserules]

(1) google "slash chords".

(2) forget everything you learned by googling "slash chords".

A mandolin only has four courses, and it's tuned in fifths. Therefore almost every chord you play on a mandolin is going to have to be some kind of inversion and/or reduction. When you see "D/F#" or "D/A", etc, just play a D chord - whichever possible D chord shape is easiest to move into from the preceding chord and out of to the following chord.



PS: "D/C#" isn't a D chord anyway, it's a Dmaj7 chord (with the M7 on the bottom).

[Jim Broyles]

Be careful what you call "the root." The lowest note of a chord is not necessarily the root. In a D/C#. D is still the root, but the major seventh is in the bass.

[Mike Bunting]

It means a D with a C# at the root. That would make it a D major 7 chord and it would have some combination of D, F#, A, and C#, with at least one C# as the lowest note. If you are playing in a group, the bass player would probably take care of it.

D will always be the root, C# is just the lowest note in this voicing.

[Paul Hird]

I may want to wait until I get to this point with my instructor. I was trying to learn "February Seven" by the Avett Brothers and these "slash chords" are all through the song. I've only been playing for about ten months and haven't yet embarked on this type of chord yet.

Thanks for the help though!

[David Lewis]

With all music theory the language is very precise. (Except for the term 'accidental' which are usually deliberate.)

But yes, the lowest note it the slash chord. And mando has these neat little tricks like a Cmaj 7. Chord in the first position ( G E B E) can also be Em. in the mando C Maj 7 there is no root note. Again, other instruments are your friends. But so are your ears. The ear is exceptionally good at filling in the gaps.

[swampstomper]

Slash chords are generally only for guitar or piano, where they show the bass note. This is usually part of a "walking bass" line. The guitar can play these fairly easily and since the bass strings sound "stronger" than the treble, the ear hears both the bass line (which as a previous poster said, can be played instead by the bass) and the chord. As another poster said, the mando has only 4 courses and usually plays inversions anyway. The famous "G chop" D-G-B-G is an example: 5th/root/3rd/root. But I would not call it a slash chord even though D is the bass, because there is no D in the upper register.

[Misty Stanley-Jones]

Yeah sorry I used the word "root" when I meant "bass". Thanks all.

[jesserules]

I may want to wait until I get to this point with my instructor. I was trying to learn "February Seven" by the Avett Brothers and these "slash chords" are all through the song. I've only been playing for about ten months and haven't yet embarked on this type of chord yet.

Thanks for the help though!

Okay, there's a C C/B C/A progression in that. Now, the notes of a C chord are CEG. If you add a B to that, you've got a C Major Seventh chord: CEGB. If you add an A to the basic C chord you've got a C Sixth chord: CEGA. So what you could do is play C-CM7-C6 mandolin chords. For example, try

C 5578
CM7 5577
C6 5575

[Paul Hird]

Thanks to everyone for your input. I did get it figured out based on all the good feedback. Now, onto working on the song.

Thanks again!

[jefflester]

Okay, there's a C C/B C/A progression in that. Now, the notes of a C chord are CEG. If you add a B to that, you've got a C Major Seventh chord: CEGB. If you add an A to the basic C chord you've got a C Sixth chord: CEGA. So what you could do is play C-CM7-C6 mandolin chords. For example, try

C 5578
CM7 5577
C6 5575

Though C is a really easy chord to add the walk down bass to:

C: 5230
C/B: 4230
C/A: 2230

[journeybear]

A lot of times slash chords are useful for playing by yourself, when the composer has in mind a certain bass line or other melodic theme to provide a motion to the chord progression. To expand on Misty's point, in a band context, chord instruments are relieved of this duty as the bass player would handle this part of the arrangement. Not always, but pretty often. Of course, it can sound really cool if these notes are being played simultaneously by different instruments, and, given the pitch ranges for bass, guitar, and mandolin, octaves apart. For solo accompaniment, try to find voicings that are fairly easy to play, and sound similar to the recording. That will probably be closest to what the writer intended.

These devices are also called "walk-downs" and "walk-ups," and you'll hear them a lot. One of my favorites is the C-down-to-Am (or C-Em-Am), because of the voicings for it on the mandolin. I believe I have invented it - I'm claiming it anyway - but feel free to use it. It's a simultaneous walk-down on the bottom string and walk-up on the top string, like so:

5-2-3-0 4-2-2-3 2-2-3-5

The C B A on the G string is the stronger sounding part of this, but the counterpoint on the E srtring is sweet.

[jesserules]

Yep, that little guitar we play is pretty versatile ...