I received such a positive response to my last worship confessional I decided to break out my guitar again and do a little teaching on how to play slash chords:
September 30, 2007 Worship set list at Christian Fellowship Church:
- Open the Eyes of My Heart – Paul Baloche
- All the Earth Will Sing Your Praises – Paul Baloche
- Filled with Your Glory – Tim and Jon Neufeld
- He is Exalted – Twila Paris
- Agnus Dei – Michael W. Smith
- Just as I am – Charlotte Elliott and William Bardbury
- Here is My Heart – Martin J. Nystrom
Updated version of older worship songs using slash chords:
Open the Eyes of My Heart by Paul Baloche
Arr. Sam Lynn
Chorus/Verse 2:
E5, E5/D#, A2/C#,A2, E5
Verse 1:
Bsus, C#m7, A2, Bsus, Bsus, C#m7, A2, Bsus
Billy Chia slash chord voicings:
E5: —– 079900
E5/D#: – 069900
A2/C#: – x42200
A2: —– x02200
Bsus: — x24400
C#m7: — x46650
He is Exalted by Twila Paris
Arr. Sam Lynn
Intro:
G, C/G, D/G
Chorus:
G, G/B, C, C/E, Dsus
G, G/B, C, D/C, C/D, Dsus, Esus, E
Verse:
Am, Em/G, D/F#, D, G, G/B, C, G/B
Am, Em/G, D/F#, D, G, G/B, C, G/B
Am, Am/G, F, C/D, G
Billy Chia slash chord voicings:
G: —— 3×0033
C/G: —- 332010
D/G: —- 3×0232
G/B: —- x20033
C: ——- x32033
C/E: —- xx2033
Dsus: — xx0233
D/C: —- x30233
C/D: —- xx0013
Esus: — 022200
E: —— 022100
Am: —- x02210
Em/G: – 322000
D/F#: — xx4232
Am/G: – 302210
F: —— 133211
Twila Paris did updated version on her 2005 release He is Exalted Live Worship. It actually kinda rocks and has some electric guitar with a little delay. You can listen to the new version on her website.
Did you do a confession for this Sunday?
Drop a link in the comments.
Billy Chia 
Dude, I have no clue what you’re talking about. LOL Will you teach me? I want to learn how to play, but I’m not exactly sure where to start (other then buy a guitar). Check out my last blog and give me some advice!
L8 Bro
“I have no clue what you’re talking about.”
Chris,
That makes us even from your last tech confessional 🙂
Thank you. Jeez. Thank you so much. I’m so glad to see an acoustic guitar player who doesn’t get all freaked out by slash chords. As a keyboard player, I LIVE on slash chords, and a lot of the acoustic players that I’ve played with will be lazy and play the top chords. Also, I totally feel you on the whole Twila Paris deal. Thank you. You are officially my hero.
This is excellent. As a keyboard player, these chords delight my soul, but it is hard for me to tell most acoustic guitar players what I’m talking about. I’m pointing my guitar players here.
Thanks, man!
Ben and Greg,
Yeah, I started really getting into slash chords when I started playing more keyboard in worship. Yeah I just loved the sound and started looking for ways I could accomplish the same thing on guitar as well.
Billy,
Like Chris, I have no clue what you just said, but I will! I had my first guitar lesson last Friday! I am so pumped about learning. I’m looking at my books and Fender as I type this now! Go God!
Daniel,
Rock it out man!
Also here’s a good “intro to slash chords” link:
http://www.cyberfret.com/chords/slash-chords/index.php
Scroll down to “Decoding the chord symbol” and then click on the guitar pic to keep going.
Billy, sweet lessons on slash chords. Question. Can a band become so into playing all the parts that it muddies the clarity? What I mean is that sometimes when the acoustic playa, the keyboardist, the harmonica, the cello, and the harp all play the slash chord – the bass player has nothing to do…?
I love you man.
great video. updated od songs are great too. awesome confessional.
Shawn,
Cool, thanks for dropping by.
“Can a band become so into playing all the parts that it muddies the clarity?”
Alex,
Yeah, we have a rule at our church that the harp is never allowed to play the slash chord.
But seriously, that’s a great point and I totally agree with you! Simple and clean still needs to be the trump card when leading, too much complexity is usually too hard to follow.
When I play by myself I play all the slash chords, but when I play with a band I’ll sometimes lay off.
A rule of thumb I use is:
If the bass note is part of the original chord it’s not as important as moving to a bass not outside the chord.
For example if you play a Major chord (1,3,5 or G,B,D) and you move to the 3 or the 5 (Example: G to G/B or G/D) then it’s not as important of a move on the acoustic.
When moving to something like the 7th I find it clashes if you don’t move. For example if you have an E chord and you go to an E/D# it makes a big difference if the acoustic doesn’t move.
When we played Open the Eyes this weekend the Keyboard and Guitar made this exact chord change and the bass player had this sweet lick he was playing over top. It was still simple ,clean, and non-distracting, but because the keys and guitar kept the bottom end the bass was actually freed up.
Nice – super helpful!
One other cool thing you can do going from the E5 to E5/D# on Open The Eyes Of My Heart is to play the E5/D# like this 079800 so that instead of playing the D# in the bass you are playing it an octave up. It creates even more tension, and a more open sound.
Sometimes I will alternate the two different voicings in the same song to give variety.
My 2c
Steve,
E to Emaj7 is one of my fav sounds. (also why I like D/G, as it has a Gmaj7 kinda sound) Great call on switching things up to add variety.
You’re gonna be a great worship pastor. Friendly and helpful. You’ll do a great job equipping your musicians for excellence. Nice job.
How about for ‘open the eyes’ instead of the E5/D#: – 069900
Try B/D# – 064400…
Just a thought…
cheers
Ryan,
Right on. B/D# is another chord I love to use.
If you want a low D/F# voicing, I like to grab the F# with my thumb, like this–200232.