Players like Larry Carlton use chords as a launching pad for improvisation, and you can, too. Learn how polychords and slash chords hold the key to musical exploration, just as scales do

Chords, scales, and harmony are subjects you could spend your whole life studying – and perhaps that complexity and sense of infinite possibilities is what keeps most of us hooked.

There are various ways in which we can approach any one aspect of chords and their extensions, but for this feature I’ve chosen to highlight polychords and slash chords, clarifying what each term means – and what the difference is between them.

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription