Slash Chords C/Am and G/Em

[NASAMike]

I'm trying to play these two chords on a style but they come up Am7 and Em7 instead of C/Am and G/Em.   

Any idea how to get those chords?

Thx,
NASAMike

[EileenL]

You need to use AI fingering for this. Play CEAC for Am/C and just play the G and E notes for Em/G

[NASAMike]

Thanks for the reply. 

Unfortunately that is giving me Am/C and Em/G not C/Am (maybe this should be C/A) and G/Em (maybe this should be G/E).

Thoughts?

Thx,
NASAMike

[Fred Smith]

There's no such thing as a C/Am chord. The letter after the slash is the bass note, not a chord.

You probably want Cm/A.

Cheers,
Fred

[DerekA]

C/Am and G/Em do not exist.

Slashed chords are always in the form chord/bass note.

Perhaps it should be C/A and G/E

However those sound - I think! - just the same as Am7 and Em7 as you found.

[mikf]

Cm/A would  be the same as A half diminished, usually written as Am7b5. But it might still be written Cm/A in situations where it is part of a bass run like Cm/B. Cm/A etc.  but when fingered on the keyboard as A C Eb G would show as Am7b5. Same chord.
C/A is same as Am7, although again it might be written this way in a bass run and would show up as Am7 on the keyboard when fingered A C E G.
Mike

[Ronbo]

this is when using the fingering on bass is useful.

The slash chord means that the note after the slash is the note you should use at the bottom of the chord.
It's a way to tell a player the inversion he or she should use in forming the chord. Try playing a chord like C or G in the three available inversions.

Of course you will have to switch over to fingering on bass.

If the slash chord includes a note that is not really part of the original chord, like C/A, then that one is a little more trouble to form with only one hand. So, in this case if you add the A within the chord C you would actually be playing an Am7. Play the slash chord using both hands by setting up your board to denote chords all across the keyboard.

Slash chords are probably more useful to piano players than the keyboards we play. I myself don't use slash chords for their original intention, but that's just me

regards

stay safe

Ron

[mikf]

AI fingered will also work for these slash chords.
I don't think inversions and slash chords chord are just for piano players. They can also improve arranger playing.
Mike

[EileenL]

Yes they allow you to play things like Whiter shade of pale using the correct bass for it.

[overover]

Hi NASAMike,

you originally wrote "C/Am" and "G/Em".

It could be that in this case it simply means "play either C or Am" (and "play either G or Em").

Am is the parallel minor key of C major, and Em is the parallel minor key of G major. In many cases you can therefore simply play C major instead of Am or play G major instead of Em.

If the chord symbols are NOT intended as described above, then they are written "the wrong way round". So it should be writtan "Am/C" (= Am with bass note C) or "Em/G" (= Em with bass note G). How to play this has already been mentioned here.


P.S.
What is the title of the Song in which these chords occur?


Best regards,
Chris

[SciNote]

Unless the song is some kind of esoteric or experimental song, I seriously doubt the composer would suggest to give you the choice to play either a C major or an A minor (Am) chord at the same point, because depending on which chord you play (C or Am), you would drastically alter the mood of the song at that point, because the C major chord would give a brighter, happier sound, whereas the A minor chord would give a more somber or sad sound.

I have seen music where a chord is stated, but then a simpler chord is suggested for people who aren't familiar enough to play the original chord.  For example, a song might state to play a G9, but then also notate that a G7 could be played instead of the G9 for people not familiar with a 9th chord.  But C major and A minor are both very basic chords, and again, they convey very different moods, so I doubt that is the case here.

I agree that in my experience, when a chord is written as "x/y", the "x" is the chord you're playing, and the "y" is the bass note.  If it really is written as "C/Am", which is showing as a whole chord after the slash ( "/" ), then I'm really not sure what the composer has in mind, and I can only agree with the possible suggestions above.  If it is written the wrong way around, then that would mean to play a C bass with an Am chord -- which, by the way, is the same as a C6 chord.  Correspondingly, playing an Em chord with a G bass is the same as a G6 chord.

If the notation really does mean to play the two chords together (in other words, play a C major chord and an A minor chord together), then that is also very strange, because as noted above, when you do that, you just get an A minor 7 (Am7) chord.  C major is C, E, and G, and A minor is A, C, and E.  When you account for the repeated notes, you're left with A, C, E, and G -- which is exactly an Am7 -- or, if the C is the lowest note (C, E, G, A), then it is a C6.  I would think the composer would just simply write the intended chord as Am7 or C6, rather than some confusing instruction to play two different chords at the same time.  By the same token, playing G major and E minor together, and then accounting for the repeated notes gets you E, G, B, D, which is Em7, or G, B, D, E, which is G6.

[KeyboardEd]

Yes, yes, yes & true, true, true, absolutely good info for 'almost' all music across all genres.

'Almost'? Well...there are a few genres of music that our arranger/workstations are not designed to interpret (as far as I know??), such as: 20th Century Atonal, 12-tone, & Quartile harmony that directly come to mind.

Not all music is chordal (based on triads and diatonic) music.

This is what happens when you have so much time on your hands closed up in the house!!! Bless my wife.

Back to to OP question, you have good answers here but one of the assumptions made is that the music you are reading is published with 100% accuracy. Heck, I've NEVER found a mistake in any of the written or published music I've played That's why I always bring a pencil with me!

My guess would be the slashed bass note and chord symbol have been reversed. The entire score would need to be analyzed to figure out what is going on here.

[mikf]

I think the most likely explanation is that NASAmike just made a typo and meant C/ A and G/E because that's what he said he played when he got Am7 and Em7.
As I explained to him in my post the keyboard will correctly show these as Am7 and Em7 because they are identical chords with the same notes in the same order.
Mike