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Old 02-08-2010, 04:33 PM
Allman_Fan Allman_Fan is offline
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I do both. You can, too. It’s not hard, but you have to “do both.” Here are some related thoughts.

1. Your way . . with Special Sauce!
Make it your way, but with the middle finger (on D string) and ring (B string). Now, slide up the neck like this. (Play all the strings, except low E.)

E|-----------------------
B|--2(r)-----3(i)-----5(r)-
G|-----------------------
D|--2(m)----4(m)----5(m)-
A|----------------------
E|--X-------------------

And you can keep going up the neck in a similar fashion.
i. Only fret the D and B strings.
ii. Always fret the D string with your middle finger.
iii. Use your index on the B string if you fret on “below” the middle finger and use the ring if you fret on the “same” fret.
iv. Experiment and see what sounds best; you’ll figure it out.

You can use this in the following situation: The song is in D and you are playing the A7 for a while before resolving back to the D at the beginning of the verse/chorus. Well, rather than “hanging” around in the same A7, walk it up the neck!

(These may not all be (technically) A7 chords. I think of them as “A7 walk-up notes to D”)

2. The other/bar way.
Consider the highest four strings. Now, if you move the same shape up, three frets, from the 2nd to the 5th, you have a C7. Two more frets, D7, and so on. This may be your first “bar chord!”

E|--3(m)---- 6(m)-----8(m)------
B|--2(i)------5(i)------7(i)------
G|--2(i)------5(i)------7(i) -----
D|--2(i)---- -5(i)------7(i)------
A|-----------X---------X----------
E|--X--------X---------X----------

----A7-------C7-------D7

You can play the open A string on the A7 chord, but not on the others – just the highest 4 strings.

In part 2, these are separate, unrelated chords, whereas the “chords” in the part 1. are to be played one after another, as a “riff.”
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