# Slash chords and inversions

> A slash chord names a chord and a bass note: G/B is a G chord with B at the bottom. It is the same chord turned upside down, and its job is to keep the lowest note of a progression moving.

A slash chord names two things: the chord on the left of the slash, and the single note that belongs in the bass on the right. G/B means "a G chord with B at the bottom". It is not a different chord, it is the same chord turned upside down — an inversion.

Guitarists meet them constantly in songs with descending bass lines: G → G/B → Am → C is a G chord, then the same G chord with a different bass note, then Am, then C. The top of the chord barely moves while the bass walks down a scale.

Many slash chords are just your existing shape with a different lowest string, which is the whole trick: G/B is G with the A string fretted at the 2nd fret, D/F# is D with the low E string fretted at the 2nd fret, and C/E is C with the low E string left open instead of muted.

The reason they matter is bass movement. A progression like G, G/B, Am, C only uses three chords, but the bass line walks down in steps and the music suddenly sounds composed rather than strummed. If a song sounds static, look for a place where a slash chord could keep the lowest note moving.

When you cannot reach the bass note, play the chord without it. G/B with a plain G still works in most situations, because the bass player or the piano will supply the B. Slash chords are a target, not a test, and the song does not collapse if you leave the inversion out.

This page collects 8 shapes, and only one is open-position, because slash chords are inherently about the low strings. That makes them a good first exercise in reading the bottom of a chord rather than the top, which is the opposite of how most players learn.

## All shapes

| Symbol | Name | Notes | Frets | Link |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| G/B | G over B | B D G | x 2 0 0 3 3 | https://openguitarchords.com/chords/g-over-b |
| D/F# | D over F# | F# A D | 2 x 0 2 3 2 | https://openguitarchords.com/chords/slash-chords#d-over-f-sharp |
| C/E | C over E | E C E G | 0 3 2 0 1 0 | https://openguitarchords.com/chords/c-over-e |
| C/G | C over G | G C E G | 3 3 2 0 1 0 | https://openguitarchords.com/chords/c-over-g |
| Am/G | A minor over G | G A E A C E | 3 0 2 2 1 0 | https://openguitarchords.com/chords/a-minor-over-g |
| A/C# | A over C# | C# A E A | x 4 2 2 2 0 | https://openguitarchords.com/chords/a-over-c-sharp |
| E/G# | E over G# | G# E B E G# B | 4 2 2 1 0 0 | https://openguitarchords.com/chords/e-over-g-sharp |
| F/A | F over A | A F A C | x 0 3 2 1 1 | https://openguitarchords.com/chords/f-over-a |

## Practice

1. Play G, then G/B, then Am, then C. Only the bass note changes between the first two chords, and that walk down is the entire effect.
2. Play C, then C/E, then C/G. Three positions of the same chord with three different bass notes. This is what an inversion sounds like from the player seat.
3. Take a song with a static two-chord loop and add a slash chord between them. If the loop suddenly sounds composed rather than strummed, you have found the reason slash chords exist.

## Practical use

Yes, but as a bass-line tool rather than as a set of shapes. The skill is recognising when a progression wants the lowest note to move, and that is a listening skill you can practise with three chords you already know.

Canonical page: https://openguitarchords.com/chords/slash-chords