What Are ... Polychords? A Complete Guide (AKA Slash Chords)

0:00 What is a polychord?
1:08 Demonstration
2:02 The double lives of polychords
5:57 A new way of thinking of chords
6:08 Polychords and memorizing chords
6:45 Polychords and transposing chords
7:48 Polychords and smooth voice leading
9:40 Finding good polychord combinations
10:30 Major chords a perfect 5th apart
11:35 Minor chords a perfect 5th apart
12:00 Major 7th chords a perfect 5th apart
12:42 Dominant chords a tritone apart
13:54 Dominant chords a minor 6th apart
14:32 Minor and major chords a minor 3rd apart
15:25 Polychords and arpeggiation
16:19 Polychords and soloing

In this video I am going to demonstrate and go over the concept of polychords. These are chords that are made out of "simpler" chords, such as playing a C major and a G major simultaneously. Polychords give us a completely new way of thinking of music and harmony, and can be used to transpose, voice lead and memorize stuff. I will also give you some recipes for constructing "good sounding" (consonant) polychords. Finally, I'll conclude by showing how polychords can lead to some interesting arpeggiation and soloing choices.

PS
Polychords are sometimes called slash chords. Sometimes people will use the term "Slash Chords" to refer to a chord over a specific bass, which is a "trivial" polychord. You should double-check with the musician you're working with what he or she mean exactly by using slash notation.