D-G-A(A7) Progression: Bright vs. Warm Voicing

[Brent Hutto]

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?

[rick-slo]

You can do various voicings. In this somewhat lively version of Sheebeg Sheemore I did not venture far from the original chords but did mix it up a bit two thirds of the way through. You could do most anything really.
http://dcoombsguitar.com/Guitar%20Mu...egSheemore.mp3

[wcap]

Thats a nice sounding recording.

What guitar is that played on?

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by wcap

Thats a nice sounding recording.

What guitar is that played on?

Albert-Mueller S-6