Split chords, inversion chords

[need4mospd]

I'm playing a song that has a chord that is played as F/A. I understand these types of chords well enough to play them, but I'm having trouble explaining their purpose to someone else. Does anyone have a simple breakdown of these types of chords, where they are typically found, typical progressions, etc... anything?

My band mate is insisting it's some kind of A minor(maybe Am6?) chord, and not an F/A chord. It clearly has a major sound to my ears, but he can't hear it at all.

FYI, the song is Overjoyed by Stevie Wonder. The two chords in question are the F/A on the word "rea-son", resolving to a G/B, followed by the lyrics "Ive gone much too far...." over the C major...

Any help is appreciated...

[HaVIC5]

There are three sorts of chords that you might see that involve the slash symbol - inversions, hybrids and polychords. Polychords aren't very common in popular music, so ignore that one. Inversions are just chords where a CHORD TONE BESIDES THE ROOT is played in the bass. In your example, A is a chord tone of F, so it is an inversion of F and functions exactly the same way a regular F major chord would. The bass is different just to give it a different color, or a function of particular root motion. For example, in the chord progression F - C/G - F/A, the bass is moving upwards stepwise, whereas if you just had the progression F - C - F, the bass would be considerably more angular and less fluid. Its all just to give it a different sort of sound, but the basic chord progression can still be heard against a different bass note, and should be analyzed and thought of in terms of the chord, not the bass note.

Hybrids are slash chords where the bass note IS NOT a chord tone, like for example, A-7/D, or G/C. These are a lot rarer, but you still might come across them. In these cases, when the bass note isn't a chord tone, you generally analyze its function in terms of the BASS note (I say generally, because context is king. This doesn't hold true if there is a bass pedal). This is going to be very ambiguous, though, because hybrids often omit the third relative to the bass. For example, in "G/C", you have a C (root), G (5), B (7) and D (9), so it is kind of like a major 7 (9) chord omit three. These sorts of chords are very ambiguous in their function, but can serve to add a lot of color.

[need4mospd]

Well, this makes a little more sense. With the F/A, to G/B, to C as the chord progession in question, it seems the bass note is moving up a step at a time to resolve into the C. I think this should help make my case for the inversion chord in that instance. That, and I can't hear an E in that first chord at all, so that rules out an A minor.

Thanks!

[Ed Fuqua]

Sort of. The other thing you're probably looking at is that somebody (composer or arranger) wants a specific chord voicing. Or they want a specific line (descending/ascending) with the chord line. So the easiest way to do either is by using a slash chord.

Like havoc says, function rules - when you're improvising a line or accompaniment, go with chord function. If it's a dominant function, it's a dominant chord.

Use your ear though; a buddy of mine writes a lot of stuff with altered chords, slash chords and it's very deceptive. You can LOOK at it and think one thing (function), but if you LISTEN to it you hear that he's really pointing somewhere else entirely and the voicing is there to support meldoic movement, not harmonic function.

[DocBop]

Just throw out how I look at slash and polychords is basically what Ed and havoc are saying. I look at them as the arranger or composer has a bass line in mind. They don't need the detail of std notation so slash chords do the job just fine. The one I've seen a lot illustraes what I'm say.

You see a chart the chord is Am but arranger want a descending line in the bass from root down to 6th. He could write Ami, Ami Ma7, Ami7, Ami6, but that doesn't get the point across. In fact some bass player would pedal the A, other could play a line with detracts from the descenting line. But if he writes Ami, Ami/G#, Ami/G, Ami F# his will get exactly the sound he wants. In fact many times you see slash chords you will see others around it. Look and the bottom note and you'll see chromatic lines or scale-wise movement. The others I see a lot are G/A, G/F. The G/A kind of a sus sound and G/F a dominant with the b7 in the bass.

Polychords I love and agree with Havic you don't see them a lot, but keyboard and guitarist use them a lot. They simplfiy playing chords with lots of color tones. Like D over C equals a C 6/9 #11 chord. Now that chord symbol would scary many, but say D over C and it's simple. Play a C triad or C in the bass and if a chordal instrument play D triad up high for the color tones. As a bass player we aren't play big chords like that, but know polychords can be useful when soloing and occasionaly bass lines. I like the sound of a C 6/9+11 so when I solo over a C major chord I know if I use the notes of the D triad I am implying that sound.

[bonzo4880]

chord inversions can give you another chord, depending. F major contains an A and a C, the root/m3 of Am. Granted, there is an E lacking. I also saw a 'minor/aug' chord in a flaming lips song, hadnt heard of this before. A C F would give you a 'minor/aug' chord, but i havent heard of these anywhere before. Anyone want to shed some light?

Also for example: first inversion of Em7 (E G B D) would give you a Gmaj6 (G B D E). This would effectively be a chord replacement, as opposed to a different voicing of the same chord. It would create motion farther away from the original root. How would a change like this affect the overall harmony?

[Grinky]

Originally Posted by DocBop

They simplfiy playing chords with lots of color tones. Like D over C equals a C 6/9 #11 chord. Now that chord symbol would scary many, but say D over C and it's simple. Play a C triad or C in the bass and if a chordal instrument play D triad up high for the color tones. As a bass player we aren't play big chords like that, but know polychords can be useful when soloing and occasionaly bass lines. I like the sound of a C 6/9+11 so when I solo over a C major chord I know if I use the notes of the D triad I am implying that sound.

Yupp. That's it. DocBop has it again.

I'll simplify it for you though. The simplest definition of a slash chord is "a triad over a bass note."

Lets take the C major scale for example:
C/C Same triad as the root
Db/C Triad half step above the root
D/C Triad whole step above the root
Eb/C Triad a minor 3rd above the root
F/C Triad a perfect 4th above the root
...
Ab/C Triad minor 6th above the root. (that's your F/A)
...and so on.

Right, and so what about the Ab/C you ask? Well, the Eb and the Ab of the Ab triad are the 2 of the 4 alterations found in a C7alt chord - #9 (Eb), b13 (Ab). And what about that, you ask? Well, you can play the Ab major scale over that chord.

[slybass3000]

Originally Posted by bonzo4880

chord inversions can give you another chord, depending. F major contains an A and a C, the root/m3 of Am. Granted, there is an E lacking. I also saw a 'minor/aug' chord in a flaming lips song, hadnt heard of this before. A C F would give you a 'minor/aug' chord, but i havent heard of these anywhere before. Anyone want to shed some light?

Also for example: first inversion of Em7 (E G B D) would give you a Gmaj6 (G B D E). This would effectively be a chord replacement, as opposed to a different voicing of the same chord. It would create motion farther away from the original root. How would a change like this affect the overall harmony?

1) the min aug triad is not a new sound because it is the same thing as a major triad with the third in the bass. But on a compositional or arranging point of view it is practical: think of the theme of James Bond or Brasil cmin-cmin(#5)-cmin6-cmin(#5). It makes more sense to write it like that instead of cmin-Ab/C-cimn6 etc...It is probably the same thing with the song you are talking about.

2) You are right about the inversion of the minor 7 being a major6 chord but one sounds weaker or softer then the other(G6) The bass note makes the change. As a rule of thumb when the bass note is in the chord like C/E then we have a major chord in inversion so we can think of it as a C Major chord.But if the bass is not in the chord then the bass is the name of the chord and you have to calculate your notes from the root to figure it out like something like this Cmin/D. This would be an easier way to write a D7sus4(b9) or D11(b9).

SB