 Hi guys this is Jason here from the Nathaniel School of Music and in this lesson let's learn about slash chords and how you can use them to make the triads you already know be it major or minor sound a lot more interesting have a lot of purpose and tell better stories. In this lesson we are going to look at the D major scale and just use chords within that scale. So let's build the scale together first of all D major F sharp and C sharp isn't it two sharps F sharp and C sharp now we are going to play some chords and the chords are just going to be the one chord the four chord the one chord again and then the five chord that's the chord progression. So what is the one chord the chord built out of the first note or the root note D the four chord G the one chord D and the five chord A and that's pretty much it. So before we get started with the usage of slash chords if you guys haven't already please subscribe to our channel and turn on the bell icon for notifications whenever we release a new video let's begin. So the whole idea of using slash chords is to change the base note of the chord so you need to focus a lot on this hand on the left hand for this exercise in order to do that I guess your subconscious mind needs to really get done and dusted and bank on the right hand to deliver so for that you can use the appropriate chord inversions to shift between the chords easily so D major for instance the first chord of the D major the scale D major can be played either as D F sharp A F sharp A D or A D F sharp all these three options exist similarly the G chord G B D B D G D G B and in all these instances I'm just playing the true root or the root note of the chord or the name of the chord in the base hand or the left hand last chord for the exercise a major a C sharp E C sharp E A C sharp now why do you need to know so many positions or so many shapes really helpful so that you can shift well between them so if you start with let's say a D F sharp which is the second inversion of D major you can so easily glide to a major almost blindly right see I mean I'm able to do this just by looking at you guys so ADF sharp AC sharp E so you do one four back to D major G major which is B D G B D G ADF sharp AC sharp E so I'd advise you to practice this on different starting positions ADF sharp then you could start with D F sharp A which is D F sharp A D G B D F sharp A C sharp E A then you could start with F sharp AD which is the first inversion F sharp A D G B D F sharp A D AC sharp there we go so each either of those ways of playing it could work for you depending on what vibe you want but the actual vibe is created in the left hand so if I played all these chords with their root or their bass note all chords feel very stable right also sort of feels like the person who you're writing the story about like or the lead actor or the hero sort of not doing much just in the house just chilling out on a sofa or something now if you want to make it come to life or tell us a story what I really like is to use slash chords so a slash chord is a normal triad like a D major chord with a bass which is not the name of the chord or which is not the root of the chord so if I take D major normally you'd be playing D that creates a very stable resolved kind of a base right something complete but now if I change the note it's going to create a rather different sensation and how do I change it well you could change it by adding a variety of base notes but in this lesson I'm going to focus on adding the other chord tones which are nothing but the third D's third D major is what now F sharp isn't it F sharp or you can even add the fifth which is A and what's going to happen is we are going to play that down below in the bottom in the bottom so the sound is going to be built from a note which is not the root so if I take D major with F sharp bass right I'm sure you feel this right it just doesn't sound very stable this is like you've come back home you've relaxed while the chord with a different bass note just feels like it's yearning for something more you know it's asking a question where do I go next and it's a great way to kind of tell a story all stories have a journey which you try to set up so this particular chord D with F sharp bass seems to want to go to the G for some reason the G even though it's not the root chord of the D major scale feels a lot more homely than the D with F sharp bass you know so D with F sharp is what you could say is an anticipation it's anticipating to G okay you may ask why you can observe the the semitone or the steps between the notes if you take the closed step which is F sharp going to G it sort of creates a nice magnetic lock locking effect so actually if you play it up top can really hear it well and it serves as great voice leading but now we are also reinforcing it in the left so I'd also advise you to sing these moving notes to connect the chord so your ears also get a lot stronger so you could go to maybe lower maybe even lower I quite like that so just get acquainted with F sharp going to G which is that half step which creates that magnet okay and the remainder of the chord progression will have you playing D with another base which is its fifth what is D's fifth again a so D the fifth or the third note of the chord so again if you if I play D forward slash a which is another slash chord again it's like yeah this is wanting to go somewhere and it obviously should kind of want to go to the fifth because the fifth note of the scale a is already in the base so if you play a major after that sort of completes the puzzle you know or you reach a conclusion so the whole chord progression again D with F sharp base G major normal D with a base A normal so you create the sense of tension resolution again tension resolution and then the ultimate resolution which is D forward slash D which is just written as D D major okay so I hope you guys have followed that so far and I also hope that you follow the purpose of slash chords it's not just something you can stick in and do for fun it's something you do so that you're creating this nice embedded emotion of tension following resolution which is how most stories want to be told in any case right then you enjoy it it becomes entertaining right in all of our opinions I'm sure so let's go through this one more time just so that we haven't forgotten anything the chord progression is the one four one five play that really well get your right hand to be absolutely subconscious and then in our base hand we are trying to not play the true roots of the chords namely D G D a we are messing with the one chord which is the D in this lesson so the one first goes to the D with F sharp base which is its third yearning to go to G then D with a which is its fifth base yearning to go to five create a nice loop of this and to close the job don't forget to make some music around this so use your voice and sing a melody and just see where it takes you I'm quite certain that this will really help guide your story you know or point you in a direction where you want to go as a songwriter so see how I'm able to sing and it creates a nice connection and as always also practice the base of the chord so hope you guys have understood this lesson and I hope you can use this in your music and if you have made some music or if you do make some music with this do share it with us without fail right so as always this is Jason here from the from the Nathaniel School of Music thanks for watching and I will see you in the next video and do not forget to subscribe to our channel if you have it already turn on the bell icon for notifications and please share the YouTube video with all of your musician friends out there cheers