Chord names separated by a /

[Muffinhead]

What does it mean in a tab when you see Dm/F? How is that played? Does that mean that you play a Dm and quickly change to F? Or does it mean that F is an alternative chord to the Dm?

[fazool]

Those are called slash chords. The second letter is a bass note added to the base chord.

[Muffinhead]

So I guess you would play the Dm with the third finger on the third fret of the fourth string and the pinky on the second string third fret. Would you then mute strings 5 and 6?

[fazool]

play a normal Bm with a F note on fret-1 of string-6

(picture from, and credited to JGuitar

[Bingoccc]

Dm/F is a good chance to practice your thumb wrap.

[Trevor B.]

Originally Posted by Muffinhead

What does it mean in a tab when you see Dm/F? How is that played? Does that mean that you play a Dm and quickly change to F? Or does it mean that F is an alternative chord to the Dm?

It doesn't matter what permutation of D,F, and A notes you play as long as F is the lowest (bass) one.

[Earwitness]

I know that / chords have been correctly described here, but I wanted to add that I have seen-however incorrectly--some people use that / to mean a half measure of each chord.

[Scootch]

Did Slash really invent them?

[Riverwolf]

Originally Posted by Earwitness

I know that / chords have been correctly described here, but I wanted to add that I have seen-however incorrectly--some people use that / to mean a half measure of each chord.

I also see this a lot on lesson sites when they say for example that each chord has one DDUUDU but somewhere you need to change chords in the middle.

[tdq]

Technically it means the first inversion of the Dm chord.
i.e Dm is D, F, A - the root position.
1st inversion is F, A, D.
2nd inversion A, D, F.
On a guitar the root inversion often isn't the easiest or most common way to play a chord (Dm, for example!), so I usually take Dm/F to mean a Dm (in whatever form) with an F bass. At least, this is how I understand it.
I think it can also be an instruction for the bass player to play an F while the guitarist/keys is playing a Dm - but I'm not sure about this.

[Trillian]

Originally Posted by Scootch

Did Slash really invent them?

Why don't you look it up on the internet?



Three common ways to think about 'slash chords' (never heard that one actually) are

1) A chord inversion where a chord tone other than the root is the lowest sounding tone (Dm/F)

2) A series of bass notes changing under a static chord (Dm Dm/C Dm/Bb Dm/A)

3) A series of chords changing over a static bass note. (Dm Em/D F/D Em/D)

[fazool]

Originally Posted by tdq

Technically it means the first inversion....

I didn't think it was inversions. Because you could make a slash chord such as C/B or C/A# (such as a walking-down bass line drone). Those are valid slash chords that are not inversions.

[DupleMeter]

They aren't always inversions, but the slash always indicates the desired bass note for the chord. It's only an inversion if the bass note is also a chord tone (1, 3, 5 or 7).

When the chord is displayed like a fraction

G
-
F#

Rather than G/F#

Then it is a compound chord. 2 triads played together (omitting the 5th from the bottom triad). So in this case: F# A# G B D. These are much more common in jazz charts.

HTH

[Trillian]

Originally Posted by DupleMeter

They aren't always inversions, but the slash always indicates the desired bass note for the chord. It's only an inversion if the bass note is also a chord tone (1, 3, 5 or 7).

When the chord is displayed like a fraction

G
-
F#

Rather than G/F#

Then it is a compound chord. 2 triads played together (omitting the 5th from the bottom triad). So in this case: F# A# G B D. These are much more common in jazz charts.

HTH

Thanks for that, once again I came to teach and learned something in the process. Win/win!

Or is it

Win
___

Win

????

[JonPR]

It's also worth bearing in mind (confirming tdq's point) that if you see such a chord in a chart of a rock song (or a jazz tune), it means the guitar (and/or keys) plays the chord (before the slash) and the bass player plays the bass note.
I.e., if there's a bass player playing that bass note, you can (and probably should) just play the normal chord. (It's usually a good idea not to double up what the bassist is doing.)
Of course if you're on your own - then you do it yourself (if you can)!

As also pointed out, slash chords commonly indicate a moving bass line, often scalewise, but this can be optional. It will depend on the song how significant you think that line is.

Another thing is that slash chords are often simpler ways of writing (and thinking about) more complex chord types.
Eg "D9sus4" could be written as "Am7/D", and simplified further to "C/D".