Power Chords #1of2 (Guitar Lesson CH-004) How to play

Justin's Completely Free, Guitar Chords Lessons. This is Lesson CH-004.

Learn how to play Power Chords in this two part lessons. This part covers Power Chords with a 6th string root note. You will learn about muting the strings and about root notes too. Use this video best by checking out the web site to see the diagrams and notes.

Lesson ID:
CH = Chords area of web site.

Find the related course notes on the following link:
http://justinguitar.com/en/CH-004-PowerChords1.php

Taught by Justin Sandercoe.

Full support at the justinguitar web site where you will find hundreds of lessons on a wide range of subjects, and all the scales and chords that you will ever need! There is a great forum too to get help, no matter what the problem.

And it is all totally free, no bull. No sample lessons, no memberships, no free ebook. Just tons of great lessons :)

To get help with this lesson (and for further info and tabs), find the Lesson ID in the video title (like ST-667 or whatever) and then look it up on the Lesson Index page of justinguitar.com

http://www.justinguitar.com

Have fun :)

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Hello my friends.

Here we are, this lesson is the
Part 1 of learning about Power Chords.

So, what are Power Chords, first of all?

So, a Power Chord is a kind of
a Rock Guitar chord shape that you use.

It's, the actual shape stays the same.

So there are two things
that we need to learn.

First Of all, how to play the shape.

And secondly, how to move it around.

So that we can change that
one shape into lots of different chords.

So what they sound like?

If you're one of, most of
you rock guys won't be playing Telecasters,

but this is a fairly meaty
sounding Tele as far as they go.

it's this kind of

. . .

That kind of, quite a
big, kind of fat meaty,

rock sound, is what
we're kinda going for here.

So really what it is is just
three notes that you play each time,

and these notes would be
what's called the Root note,

the 5th of the chord,
and then the octave.

You're actually only playing
three notes every time.

Now some Power Chords
are only played with two fingers,

but I'll explain that a little bit later on.

So, the first things that you need
to know about is this Root note idea.

So I really advise that you
watch this video through my webpage.

So if you're not on my
webpage now, if you're just at YouTube,

you'll find it a lot easier
if you go to the website,

because then you'll get to see, like
the little neck diagram of the chords,

and the tabs,
and all that sort of stuff.

So, I'd advise you,
you know, if you're not there now,

maybe nip off to the website,
find the same lesson.

So, what we've got to check out
is this Root note idea.

So if you have a
look at the little diagram there

you'll see of the three notes
that make the Power Chord,

the lowest note, on the 6th string,
is called the Root note.

And the note that we place that Root note on
becomes the name of the chord.

So, if I put this Root note
of this next Power Chord here on the 3rd fret,

the 3rd fret, on the 6th string,
the thickest string, is the note G.

So if I play the Power Chord shape there
at the 3rd fret,

it becomes a G Power Chord.

Sometimes Power Chords
are referred to as 5,

so this'd be written G5.

Sometimes it's just written G
and you play a Power Chord.

You know, different people,
different ways of writing it down.

So now we're in G.

Now if we move
that whole shape up again,

and put it on the 5th fret, so our 1st finger
was in the 5th fret of the 6th string,

that's the note A, so that would make it
an A Power Chord, or an A5.

And if we move it up to the 7th fret,
it would be a B.

Up to the 8th fret, it'd be a C.

Now, of course it's also useful
if you understand your sharps and flats.

Knowing that flat always goes down,

like a flat tyre makes the car go down,
or the tyre go down.

So if we were on A, which is the 5th fret,
and then we want Ab,

we'd go, 5th fret, we'd go flat,
like lower, down to the 4th fret,

and we'd have Ab Power Chord.

Same with sharp, if you sit
on something sharp you'd jump up.

So sharps make the sound go up.

So if we had F, which is
at the first fret, and we wanted F#,

we would go up one fret, from F to F#,
and that would be at the 2nd fret.

So, the next thing that you need to know,
you need to get a bit

of a close up, and make sure
that you know how to place your fingers.

So let's go to that now.

OK so here we are at the,
this is the 3rd fret just here.

What I'm gonna do is I'm putting
my 1st finger down in the 3rd fret.

Making sure of course it's
nice and close to the fret.

Because that's the good place
to position your finger.

Then you're gonna reach out
with your 3rd finger,

and put that two frets higher.

So it's gonna be
in the 5th fret of the 5th string,

and then little finger will
sneak in underneath that one.

So getting both of them
as close to the fret as you possibly can.

Remember to try and kinda keep these two
locked together a bit,

so they're kinda pressing together.

That helps you keep the shape
when you start moving it around a lot.

So that'll be your G5 Power Chord.

Now the thing here
that's really important to realize is

that the rest of the strings,
the other three strings, are not sounding.

That's really important
because if you're like,

trying to just play those three notes,
and you've left the other ones open,

you're gonna get
those open strings ringing out,

and especially with a lot of distortion,
it'll sound really horrible.

I want you to look here
at my 1st finger, now it's not pressing it down

like it's a barre chord,
it's just touching the strings,

down here, so the 1st finger
is pressing down only that note.

And all of the rest of it's,
it's kind of a bit rounder than normal,

and it's actually
just keeping those strings completely muted.

So that there's no sound
coming out of those strings at all.

Try and make sure that that finger there
is nice and muting the strings.

So if I play with just,
I'll turn the distortion back a little bit,

so you can hear,
so a G Power Chord, which is here,

at the 3rd fret,
should sound like (plays)

but then ,
so there's three notes dead.

And the top three completely muted.

It's really important.
(plays)

Otherwise the shape is pretty cool.

It's OK to have that finger
extended off the fretboard.

The 2nd finger kind of sits up like that.

And sometimes it sits down like that,
it doesn't really matter.

The important thing is
that the 1st finger is doing those mutes.

So you've got the mutes happening
and you've got the shape happening.

The next thing that you need to do
is start to practice

a little bit just moving
that shape around a little bit.

Now there's a really common kind of riff
that you can use for this.

Which is the 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'
kind of chord progression.

Now I'm gonna show, this isn't
the way to play it off the record.

This is just an exercise
for you to get used to it.

Now, to get used to the Power Chords
and keep them moving around.

Now, remembering what I said
about how important it is

to keep those thin strings muted,

I mean
if you wanted to be really careful

you could make sure
that you only pick those three strings,

the thickest three strings
that the fingers are on for the Power Chord.

But let's face it, if you're doing a gig,

especially playing like a rock gig
like Foo Fighters or Nirvana,

and whatever.

You don't want
to be sitting there staring at your guitar,

and checking out the picks, there's gonna be like
hot chicks to look at,

and stuff, you know it's not,
you don't wanna be staring like this.

So it's really important
that you get to the point,

so you can really,
like this hand, your strumming hand,

can, bash all of the notes
and it doesn't matter,

and it just, it keeps the Power Chord
nice and clean.

So if we use our
'Smells Like Teen Spirit' as an example,

this has only got four chords,

and this isn't the way
that they play it on the record.

This is just an example for you
to get your chords moving around.

I will be doing a lesson
on this song really soon.

Cause it's a rocking song,
and it kicks ass for learning Power Chords.

But.

It's got the, the basic chord progression
is just going (plays) F#, B to A to D.

Now, I'm gonna call out
what frets they are on,

but, I want you to check out
on my website,

there's a little chart that shows you
where the different Root notes are.

Cause all your doing is
moving that one Power Chord shape,

up and down, and changing the Root note,

which is the lowest note of the chord
in this case.

So, F# is at the 2nd fret.

B is at the 7th fret.

A is at the 5th fret.

And D is right up at the 10th fret.

Now even if you just do
two strums on each one,

then it kind of sounds pretty meaty
if you're playing the chord nice,

making sure that you get
those, muting those extra strings.

That's the most important bit there.

So if you've checked that out, this
out as a kind of a sequence,

just to get used to your Power Chord,
and get used to your mute,

and I'll show you a better way to play it
in the Power Chords Pt. 2.

but try and get
these ones down first.

So, just to show you here again,
so this is going from,

F# - B -A - D.
(plays)

. . .

There you could add in,
if your competent at rhythm guitar,

and you want to try
and do the rhythm for it

. . .

That was a funny
wobbly ending from me, but anyway.

So, that's just an execise for you.

There's loads and loads of other songs
that you could use to practice this.

A good one that springs to mind is
All The Small Things by Blink 182.

That's only using the
Power Chords of C, G and F.

Which is 8th fret, 3rd fret and 1st fret.

Again, they don't play it
exactly like that,

but that's not a bad way
of practicing it.

Starting with a C - G - F - G.

(plays) back to the C and down to F

. . .

It's a really straight forward little riff
and it only uses those 3 chords.

Maybe you should transcribe it yourself.

It might not be a bad plan.

Anyway, so,
have a muck around with those,

make sure that you
get the technique right.

Don't forget to check out
where the Root notes are on my website.

And I'll see in a little
bit for Power Chords Pt. 2.

See you dudes.

(Tassie Devil singing.)