Double Chords

What does it mean when two chords (i.e. F/C) are used? How does one play 'em?

I'm havin' enough trouble playin' one at a time. ld:

Those are called slash chords. The letter following the slash is the bass note... which isn't always playable on uke. Pretty much the only time I use them is when playing low G, and even that is pretty rare.

janeray1940 said:

Those are called slash chords. The letter following the slash is the bass note... which isn't always playable on uke. Pretty much the only time I use them is when playing low G, and even that is pretty rare.

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So we Ukers don't bother with 'em? The book I was usin' wasn't a Uke book--probably guitar chords. ld:

Down Up Dick said:

So we Ukers don't bother with 'em? The book I was usin' wasn't a Uke book--probably guitar chords. ld:

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I think it depends on the uker I'm not super strong on theory so I generally don't. Here's another take on it that you might find useful - here's the key takeaway:


So, in your F/C example, since C is already part of the F chord, you can just play F.

I'll be curious to see the responses from others. I pretty much ignore whatever follows the slash and it seems to work out most of the time, but then I don't run into slash chords all that much to start with. You're right, you see it more in guitar tab.

Repeat after me: Ukulele is a TREBLE instrument. The right side of the slash is the BASSISTS job, not ours.

Chord theory was invented to describe mixed-voice choirs, or say a trombone consort with different sizes of the same instrument. It is not directly applicable even to piano, which confuses the heck out of theory students who Do play piano. Welcome to the treble section . .

Slash Chords fall into three categories:
1. A chord inversion (C/E, C/G, C7/Bb)
2. A moving bass line, where the base isn't necessarily playing chord tones
3. A disguised extended chord: C/F=CMaj9, C/D = D11, C/Bb = Bb9-11-13.

Now notice that "C/Bb" can be two things in these examples. Jazzy Ukulele calls these "Chameleon Chords" How they sound depends on whether the next chord is F or Dm, in which case it was a C-something, whereas if it's Eb or Cm then it was a Bb-something

In the first two cases, it will sound fine if you ignore the slash--only C and E position chords are "Root Position" on the uke anyway.

In the third, you might notice that "something" sounds off in the progression if you do. In that case, you can start fussing with extended chords, but USUALLY (not always) charts where that matters are pretty good about letting you know they want a 13 or something more exotic like Cm11 (C-Eb-G-Bb-D-F) . . . not quite sure what notes I'd pick for that one . . .

Thanks for the help. I can understand "ignore the second chord", and I will! ld:

To clarify: you usually can play the indicated note on the uke, just not necessarily as the bottom note in the chord. Sometimes the note is already a note in the chord, sometimes it's an extra "color" note. One reason people specify the "bass" notes is because these notes often form a melodic harmony line (as in a "walking bass" line). Unless you're playing with other instruments that will typically cover such lines, I recommend that you attempt to add these notes and string them together melodically, whether on the top, the bottom or the middle, and give them a little stress. If you omit them, your accompaniment may miss some essential color. For instance F/Eb would be equivalent to an F7, and F/G would be equivalent to Fadd9; playing straight F instead sounds insipid.

Because bass notes don't stand out in the clustered pitches of reentrant uke chords and uke chord voicings have little flexibility in the bass notes played, you seldom find slash notation in song sheets for uke. That doesn't mean that the notes after the slashes (in song sheets for general instruments) can just be ignored, because those notes are still integral to the desired harmony, whether they're the bottom notes or not.

Down Up Dick said:

Thanks for the help. I can understand "ignore the second chord", and I will! ld:

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Good choice! But, it would be better to be clear that the "C" to the right of the slash is a note, not a chord. It describes an F chord in second inversion, that is, with the C as the bass note.

VegasGeorge said:

Good choice! But, it would be better to be clear that the "C" to the right of the slash is a note, not a chord. It describes an F chord in second inversion, that is, with the C as the bass note.

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Oh sure . . let's get into the realm of the "Doubly-suspended V" that was expected to resolve to the normal V before cadencing, e.g. F/C-C-F . . .that developed into C11-13 and all sorts of other exotic things . . . . I figure the OP probably doesn't wanna go there just yet . . .

Right, how about a couple of practical examples for Dick then? We keep telling him to try and play it without actually telling him how.

So you have your normal, first position F chord. 2010. That's A,C,F and A. But you've come across F/C. So obviously you want emphasis on the C. We've already got a C as a bass note (assuming you're re-entrant), so why not change it up and add a bit more emphasis on the C by doubling that instead of the A. Play 2013. A,C,F,C. Or play your normal F chord and hammer on and off the third fret on the A string. Might not be the exact effect the person who wrote the chart wanted but it adds a bit of colour.

If you're playing Low-G and you're absolutely set on making that C the bass note, play 5558. C, F, A, F. You're then in the first-position C chord shape, which makes it easy to do suspended (5568), 7th (5556) and 5th chords (5588) to add yet more colour to the arrangement.

Heck, I was happy with just ignoring the C. The line sounds alright to me. ld:

Here's a case I ran into this morning where "ignore" doesn't quite work:

The verse of a new song I'm learning goes like this:
F2 (2o3o) Gm11 (???) Bb2 (ummmmm) C (I know that one!!).

First, Gm11 (G-Bb-D-F-(A)-C). A (9) is likely dropped because it clashes withthe m3 (Bb) which is important as we're in minor. Fretboard Roadmaps suggests 3213 (Bb-D-F-C or m3-5-7-11.

So now to Bb2, lets start with Bb (3211 Bb-D-Eb-Bb). Simplest thing is to raise the doubled root, which gives me 3213 (1-3-5-2) and I have a problem because that's precisely what I was playing for Gm11.

What to do? Well, in this case, I observe that the bassist is playing F-G-Bb-C, while the melody is repeating itself--Each bar is a descending figure starting on c'' and ending on f'. That suggests another approach:

F2 (2o33) Gm11(3233) Bb2 (3123) Csus7 (3o13)

Notewise (high g) that's F2 (a'c'g'c'' 3-5-2-5), Gm11 (bb'd'g'c'' m3-5-1-11), Bb2 (bb'd'f'c'' 1-3-5-2) Csus7 (bb'c'f'c'' m7-1-4-1). Notice how the high c'' keeps changing functions for each chord, even as it stays the same pitch on the same fret. The Gm and Bb chords both have a 1-5 pair (conventional Gm11 has no root) which helps reinforce the tonality in this sort of pattern.

When I see slash chords, I will grab the note if it is an easy reach, but I don't if it makes me work too hard and sounds okay without the note added. If it sounds good, do that.... I like to keep things easy.

Whether to ignore the slash depends on the chord, the song and the tuning. A low G uke might play a slashed note better than a high G if the intention is to emphasize the bass note.

Sometimes you can invert the chord, too - an F/C chord could be played 2013 - but you have to decide if it sounds right in the song...