Brent Hutto
09-27-2009, 09:43 AM
So imagine you're strumming chords for a song in 3/4 time. The particular one I'm working on is a flatpicked arragement of Sheebeg and Sheemor (sp?) but it could be anything. For simplicity, just think of simple down strums on either all three beats or in a 1-31-31-31-3... kind of thing.
For us beginners an obvious set of 1st-position chords might be:
D x-x-0-2-3-2
G 3-2-0-0-0-3
A x-0-2-2-2-0 (A7 x-0-2-0-2-0)
which is a familiar bright, happy cowboy-chord way to do it. That works as a general rule on a lot of stuff.
Now consider using these chords, with the 1st string totally omitted from the entire progression:
D x-0-4-2-3-x [perhaps should be called D/A]
G 3-2-0-0-3-x
A x-0-2-2-2-x (A7 x-0-2-0-2-x)
and for extra darkness and thickness (let's call it a Guiness voicing) you can even play the A chord as A/E 0-0-2-2-2-x.
Isn't that a lovely, warm sound for a slow ballad? As a plus, if you're playing along with someone doing the melody it leaves the whole top octave open so the chords don't step on the main voice, right?
For us beginners an obvious set of 1st-position chords might be:
D x-x-0-2-3-2
G 3-2-0-0-0-3
A x-0-2-2-2-0 (A7 x-0-2-0-2-0)
which is a familiar bright, happy cowboy-chord way to do it. That works as a general rule on a lot of stuff.
Now consider using these chords, with the 1st string totally omitted from the entire progression:
D x-0-4-2-3-x [perhaps should be called D/A]
G 3-2-0-0-3-x
A x-0-2-2-2-x (A7 x-0-2-0-2-x)
and for extra darkness and thickness (let's call it a Guiness voicing) you can even play the A chord as A/E 0-0-2-2-2-x.
Isn't that a lovely, warm sound for a slow ballad? As a plus, if you're playing along with someone doing the melody it leaves the whole top octave open so the chords don't step on the main voice, right?