bass slash chords

[blinki]

Hi There

I have recently learn't how to play bass, howerver i am battling to find information, and diagrams, of how to play salsh chords, please could u give a link to software or a page, which lists slash chords, or could you please send a list to me.

Thanks

Andrew Blakeway

blakeway@venturenet.co.za

[cyberfret]

The first thing is that as a bass player, you will not really play chords.....especially as a beginner. You will play the notes of a chords, but individually instead of all at one time. Chords played one note at a time are called arpeggios.

Then next thing is to understand what a slash chord is. If you see some thing like D/F#, here is what that means. The letter to the left of the slash is the basic chord......so this is a D chord. The letter to the right of the slash is the bass note or the lowest note in the chord. So in this case that is an F# (F sharp). That is the note that you want to emphasis when you are playing a bass line. You could also add other notes from a D chord.......from a D arpeggio to your bass line, but the F# is very important for you as a bass player to play.

Here is a guitar lesson on Slash chord, a lot of that will not apply to the bass....but you could have a look.
http://www.cyberfret.com/chords/slash-chords/index.php

In order to know where to play that F#, you will need to know what the names of the notes are on the neck of the bass. Check out this lesson at CyberfretBass.com.
http://www.cyberfretbass.com/first-fret/note-names/index.html

Also here is a lesson on basic arpeggios on the bass.
http://www.cyberfretbass.com/arpeggios/basic/index.html

--Shawn

[blinki]

So would that mean that instead of playing
D as 10
..........9
..........7
..........7
to play d/f# i would play or
.........14_______________________ 14 10
..........9___________________________ 9
..........7____________________________7
..........7___________________________ 7

As playing the root on the E sting?

p.s. sorry 4 how i wrote the tab formula!!!

[cyberfret]

To start, one thing that you should be aware of is that you are writing your tabs upside-down. Check out this lesson at CyberfretBass.com on how to read....and write tablature.
http://www.cyberfretbass.com/reading/internet-tab/index.html

Taking in to consideration that they are upside-down, those could be considered correct. But one thing that I think you are missing how these would be used. The F# does not have to be on the 4th string. You are not strumming all of the notes at the same time like a guitar player. If there is a song in which there is a D/F# chord, you could play any form of a D arpeggio.....you would just want to start on and emphasis the F# note....which is part of the chord already. You are not going memorize a new arpeggio form for each slash chord.

For a more complete list of major and minor arpeggio shapes, check out the arpeggio section here at Cyberfret.com. Those lessons are for guitar, but bottom 4 strings (lowest sounding) are the same notes as the bass, just an octave higher. Therefore any scale or arpeggio shapes that you see written for guitar, you can apply to bass.

Major arpeggios
http://www.cyberfret.com/arpeggios/basic/major/index.php

Minor arpeggios
http://www.cyberfret.com/arpeggios/basic/minor/index.php

--Shawn