Daphne 'shapes'

Queenbee

Could someone share the chord shapes they use for Daphne, in particular the D Bm Em7 A7 and Eb Cm F7 Bb7 sections. I never know what to play for D and Em and end up with too many open strings which doesn't sound right.

Thanks,
M.

pdaigle

Here is what I do. You can move everything up one fret for the Eb section. On the A7 I play an Eb7(#9) which is the tritone.

D
x
5
6
4
5
5

Bm7
x
7
7
7
x
7

Em7
x
8
7
5
x
7

A7
x
7
6
5
6
6

HCPhilly

BTW, a very commonly used approach to songs like Daphne that are based on Rhythm changes, is to
is to play melodically in the key,
using guide tones and chromatic passing tones etc.
[The above songs are loosely based on Rhythm changes,
a piece like "Oleo," is more directly based on R.C.]
A picture's worth a thousand words of course. Listen to versions of Daphne, Swing 42 etc., to get the general idea.
Think of it as more like playing a 12 bar blues.
Also, it helps to understand harmonic generalization. In other words, D and Bmi are nearly the same change, and emi and A7 are very similar.
e dorian or a mixolydian will fit emi-a7. Harmonic generalization is very common on ii-v progressions. For example the main riff to "Honeysuckle Rose" would fit emi-a7, transposed of course]. BTW, a cool way to ingrain
this concept is to look for quotes or riffs from similar progressions
that will fit the D-Bmi-emi-A7 bit. Come to think of it, the 1st 4, 6, or 8 of Daphne is very similar too or is exactly the same harmony of tons of songs. [I believe they are the same as Fat's Waller's "This Joint is
jumpin,"]
There's a million of them.
her's a few off of the top of my head; [MOSTLY THE 1ST 4 BARS]
"Let's fall in Love" "Mountain Greenery," "Swing Guitars,"
"Polka Dots and Moonbeams," and my favorite from this short list, "Sleepwalk," and of course Gershwin's "I've got Rhythm" [1st 8],
[You see, to be a good improviser you need to know a lot of melodies and musical history, etc
It also helps to break the song down into chunks;

for example,
you have I-vi-ii-V7 played twice, and then the culmination of that section
is I-I7-IV-#IdimV V7 I or D-D7-G-Gmi etc.

you can play a swing riff as a twice for the 1st 8, [question and answer],
then use the guide tones to develop a line for the last bit,
D, C, B, Bb etc.
listen to CD's for examples, use a slow downer program to transcribe some lines that you like. Learn the lines
and also take them apart to see why they work well in the context of the progression. "Change running" as it's called is always an option, but it isn't always the best approach, [especially when the changes are pertty vanilla]. let's just say there are other approaches that are worth learning and understanding.
I may put together a lesson or two that would cover harmonic generalization and also possibly substitute harmony and playing "outside"
the changes. I hope that that helps.
You can send me a PM or email me thry my site if you have questions.
WWW.hotclubphilly.com
cheers,
Barr