I play with a guitarist and occasionally give him chords with a specified root, e.g. D7/F#, C/G.

Does this mean anything to a guitarist?, my guy looks blank at me.

If I give him G/F, I have to explain this is G7. Am I being unrealistic to think he should be able to figure this out, or should I spell it out for him?

Graham

If you say "G/F" then you really mean "G7"???

Is that any free style???
I've thought we would have a unitary script form and spelling for music notes. If you talk about "G7" then you should better say "G minor 7". Or "G played with a small septime" because that's historic...

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Greetings from Frankfurt (Germany),
Sheriff ;-)

[This message has been edited by Sheriff (edited 06-13-2005).]

The best suggestion would be to have him visit one of the many web pages that show the guitar tabs. Most of us old country boys know how to play a G7, but a G/F just ain't in our heads!

Good Luck,

Gary

Inversions like we are used to play on a keyboard don't mean much to a guitar player: they think of "frets" instead. So, better tell him to play just a D7 or a C or and then leave to his musical taste to find the proper position on the guitar neck.
As a general rule, the chords played on a guitar shouldn't overlap (in terms of frequencies) with the chords played on the keyboard, to avoid the so called "sonic mud".
The same rule applies for the bass player and whatever is played with the left hand on the keyboard.

I'm not 100% sure what you're asking but what you said above means whatever chord you said plus the next note after the slash as the root. Tell it to him that way. To explain that it means what note to play as root. For instance C/G being C chord with G (bass note) played on his 6th-string. Same thing with D/F#, it's just a D chord with F# at fret 2 on the sixth string. G/F is rather unusual. If you are wanting a G7 but you want F as the bass note, you'll have to tell him that, else, he'll just play a G7 chord with G note in the bass position.

Hi,
If I'am informed right G/F does not mean G7. G/F means: chord G with bass note F. So keyboard player plays G-chord and the bass guitarist note F. But I don't know how It sounds in practice.




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Nice day!
Igor
Europe-Slovenija

It is often impossible to voice a guitar chord the same as a keyboard - for example to play D/F# you have to ask the guitarist to fret on F# playing a C shape, certain chords are virtually unplayable in the (requested) guitar variation and some are quite natural, especially those involving any of the open strings. Its usually better to listen to what the guitar can do and compensate with the keyboard to get the required inversion/layering. It will also sound more natural (obviously). This also transfers over into programming guitar parts - Think of the shape the guitar can physically play and then program those notes only.

It's pretty straightforward stuff...this type of description is the chord and a designated bass note which is not the one in the standard chord configuration. Using optional bass notes adds much to the dynamic of the instrument and often separates the
advanced players from others.

Russ

Huh? It's simply a normal D chord plus your thumb fretting 6th-string, second fret... 200232.

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Me Bill
Yamaha PSR2000

Igor (strojnik)

You are correct! A G/F is not a G7.

Mostly, guitarists ought not to concern themselves with what's on the right side of the slash. So if you want the guitarist to play a G7th and there is to be an F bass.. it ought to be presented as G7/F.

I play both guitar and keyboards and when playing guitar I only pay attention to the right side of the slash when it's convenient to do so, such as was mentioned earlier the C/G and D/F# are easy and convenient. But a G/F or G7/F is not easy and as a guityar player will just forget the F bass completely. Now the Bass player ought to make sure he pays complete attention to the right side of the slash.

When playing keys I pay attention to both sides of the slash. If I saw a G/F, you would not hear me play a G7th. You'd hear a G with an F bass note.

Peace
Bob
<><


[This message has been edited by RW (edited 06-14-2005).]

Is that your new telephone number???

That's the normal way to play a 'D' chord! It's not really necessary to tell a guitarist to play 'F#' with a 'D' chord. He should know this...

Well, a classical music education is valuable!!! Peace!

[This message has been edited by Sheriff (edited 06-14-2005).]

Would you play a 'G' bass note and a 'F' bass note at the same time???
Maybe that's the reason why the guitarist is looking confused...

[This message has been edited by Sheriff (edited 06-14-2005).]

From what I've always understood anything such as G/F or C/G, the letter after the slash is a reference to the bass note to be played, although after 40 years on the guitar I can't say I've ever seen a reference to a G7th as G/F (although F is the 7th note in the chord). One of the more common inversions that I've seen laid out is the root / followed by the third which would be played an octave lower than the norm.
Just my 2 cents worth.

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...shboom

Well, I've only been playing guitar for 38 years, so, what do I know. I'm a young buck compared to many here. But IMO, 200323 is NOT your normal D chord. X00232 is. If you want F# as the root, you say D/F#, which is 200232.

I have never in my life seen a D chord taught in any chord book as 200232. Either way, it's a D chord but you can bet they sound different. The open ringing A string is the way a D chord is played by most.

Of course, there are other ways to play a D chord but X00232 is the common open D chord.

All this is IMO, of course.

[This message has been edited by SemiLiveMusic (edited 06-15-2005).]

No. I would not play a G bass note and an F bass note. The /F is what tells me not to play the chord with a G bass. How I play the G chord on a keyboard with my right hand could be any one of the three main inversions or I may pick the notes or play a run of notes in G, BUT there would be a definite F bass played. I would not play a G7th at the sight of G/F, whether on guitar or keyboards. So if you want a G7, you need to specify G7.

The reason the guitar player is confused is because either he's just simply not seen this before or he knows what it means but was confused when directed to play a G7 at the site of a G/F notation. I think...


Peace
Bob
<><

Thank you all for great insights.

Graham

I'm a younger buck, SemiLive! I'm just playing since 22 years. I don't know if I'm right or not but at the end it is only a question of communication. I think that every band has its own conversation style and that's also a part that should be practiced in the rehearsal...


Uh, that wasn't the way I've learned guitar; I'm afraid. I saw in a chord book a (2)00232. The round brackets were standing for finger positions which don't must to be set. But in that case that you don't set the F# you don't have to attack this side (with a strike). In that case you won't play a full 6-string chord but only a 5-string chord.
I also saw in some chord books that chord (3)(2)0003. But do you really want to play a "G" chord with only 4 strings? I did it and it sounded very weak...
A "C" chord played with a "G" would mean that you play a "C played with a big quinte" (a so called "C major 5"). In this case you can do it on the 1st string (032013) or on the 6th string (332010) or on both places (332013). In both cases this chord would sound fuller.

Oh, by the way, maybe this is the best way to show a guitarist what to play. Tell him six numbers in a row (from 6th to 1st string) like SemiLive invented here...

On the other hand, while playing a chord a guitarist can pick some melodies into the chord. Those things are really hard to tell. I think that's the reason why we're practicing in a rehearsal before we're gigging...

Okay, I thought about it and would let you know it. That's all! Peace

[This message has been edited by Sheriff (edited 06-15-2005).]

I'm with semilivemusic on this one.

200232 is not the normal D chord. X00232 is. Often when I play a D chord this normal way, I leave out the bass A. If I hit it, I hit it, no big deal. I also barre a D chord depending on the song and preceding and following chords.

200232 = D/F#, which may I point out is why G/F is not a G7. The note on the right side of the slash does not indicate what note to add to the chord. It represents the bass note.

This is pretty standard notation. And standard notation is a wonderful thing for all of us who know and use it. You can go from band to band and have no trouble at all.

But I would say, I've only been playing guitar for 4.5 years. So I probably know a lot less than you all. But I'm with semilivemusic on this one.

Peace all
Bob
<><

Originally posted by SemiLiveMusic

Huh? It's simply a normal D chord plus your thumb fretting 6th-string, second fret... 200232.

Absoluteley, if you come from the Mark Knopfler school of Guitar technique, different if you play in the Classical style or you're a crap guitarist like me - sorry to offend. . . . . .

Playing simultaneous bass lines , lead lines and chords is a sight to see, especially if it's done right. Think of old fingerpickers like Mearle Travis and Chet Atkins. Then there's that "freak of nature" Charlie Hunter! He's using special bass pick-ups, more than 6 strings, etc., but what a sound!

I appreciate many single players who have learned to play bass, lines, chords and more!

Concentrating on playing a bass line in rythem, along with chords and lead lines takes years to perfect and really takes the art of guitar playing to a new level.


Russ

I forgot to write... ...we have a notation system which you can learn in classical music schools. We also have a special guitar notation and drum notation system. I think the second notation system was invented by musicians which wanted to play music instead of studying classical music. It's not wrong to do so and I won't treat here anyone. The main point is: "Having fun with playing music!"

Oh, by the way, that reminds me on some notations I've seen in earlier years. The following inscription... A - D - G - D/G ...means playing an "A" chord for a whole bar, the same with "D" and "G" chord (2nd and 3rd bar) and then playing two quarters of a bar the "D" and the second two quarters of this bar the "G" again. So, the inscription you've mentioned above would really confuse musicians who have learned that way...

That's the reason why I choosed the classical notation system. Every musician from any music conservatory will understand it. The notation system you've mentioned in the top of this topic is not unitary. Why else did your guitarist look blank at you?

If this were a general notation system we wouldn't have this little conversation...

I think it's necessary to unitize the notation system inside your band. No matter what system you'll ever use it's only useful as long as it's unitary...

Okay, this was a little bit (1 or 2) more than only my two pence...