I read a guitar fretboard book awhile back and it included the D-A-F formation and how it's used in many songs. Some that I am aware of that use the formation or fragmented chords of it are Give Alittle Bit, Jack and Diane and Soul Man. Can you expand on this theory and provide other song examples? Is this an older methodology or is it still used today?
Thanks,
Bill
D-A-F Formation
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cosmicmechanic
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There are many uses for partial chords in guitar playing, although most of them apply to adding a second guitar part to the main rhythm part of an accompaniment. One of the best ways to do this is to use 3-string voicings or fragments of a chord and play them on the top three strings (1st, 2nd, & 3rd). This way you are playing just one of each note of the chord (root, 3rd, & 5th).
There are 3 common shapes used for these chords. I like to describe them as based on the open chords E, A, & D, and refer to these shapes as families. These would match up with your reference to "D-A-F Formation", where the F formation is really part of the E family. Each family contains "members" that are different chord types. For now we will just consider major and minor.
A great way to add to the overall sound of 2 guitars is to have Guitar I play the chords in open or 1st position and Guitar II play these 3-string voicings based on the three families of chords. This will even end up sounding like a lead guitar part. Here is a simple representation of the frets that make up each shape, I will get a better diagram soon. The six numbers represent the frets involved for each shape in its lowest position.
E Major = X-X-X-1-0-0
E Minor = X-X-X-0-0-0
A Major = X-X-X-2-2-0
A Minor = X-X-X-2-1-0
D Major = X-X-X-2-3-2
D Minor = X-X-X-2-3-1
These shapes are then moved up the neck to whatever fret you need to get the chord you are looking for. As an example, here is where to play a C chord in all the shapes-
C Major (E)= X-X-X-9-8-8
C Minor (E)= X-X-X-8-8-8
C Major (A)= X-X-X-5-5-3
C Minor (A)= X-X-X-5-4-3
C Major (D)= X-X-X-12-13-12
C Minor (D)= X-X-X-12-13-11
I will be doing a full video lesson on this in the near future. I hope this gives everybody a good start on it.
Neil
There are 3 common shapes used for these chords. I like to describe them as based on the open chords E, A, & D, and refer to these shapes as families. These would match up with your reference to "D-A-F Formation", where the F formation is really part of the E family. Each family contains "members" that are different chord types. For now we will just consider major and minor.
A great way to add to the overall sound of 2 guitars is to have Guitar I play the chords in open or 1st position and Guitar II play these 3-string voicings based on the three families of chords. This will even end up sounding like a lead guitar part. Here is a simple representation of the frets that make up each shape, I will get a better diagram soon. The six numbers represent the frets involved for each shape in its lowest position.
E Major = X-X-X-1-0-0
E Minor = X-X-X-0-0-0
A Major = X-X-X-2-2-0
A Minor = X-X-X-2-1-0
D Major = X-X-X-2-3-2
D Minor = X-X-X-2-3-1
These shapes are then moved up the neck to whatever fret you need to get the chord you are looking for. As an example, here is where to play a C chord in all the shapes-
C Major (E)= X-X-X-9-8-8
C Minor (E)= X-X-X-8-8-8
C Major (A)= X-X-X-5-5-3
C Minor (A)= X-X-X-5-4-3
C Major (D)= X-X-X-12-13-12
C Minor (D)= X-X-X-12-13-11
I will be doing a full video lesson on this in the near future. I hope this gives everybody a good start on it.
Neil