WEBVTT

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Hello my friends.

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

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So, what are Power Chords, first of all?

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

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It's, the actual shape stays the same.

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So there are two things 
that we need to learn.

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First Of all, how to play the shape.

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And secondly, how to move it around.

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

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So what they sound like?

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

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

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it's this kind of

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. . .

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

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

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

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

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

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You're actually only playing 
three notes every time.

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Now some Power Chords 
are only played with two fingers,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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and the tabs, 
and all that sort of stuff.

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

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

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

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So if you have a 
look at the little diagram there

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

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

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

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

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

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

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it becomes a G Power Chord.

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Sometimes Power Chords 
are referred to as 5,

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so this'd be written G5.

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

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

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So now we're in G.

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Now if we move 
that whole shape up again,

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

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

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

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

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

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Knowing that flat always goes down,

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

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

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

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and we'd have Ab Power Chord.

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

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So sharps make the sound go up.

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

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

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

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

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So let's go to that now.

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

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

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

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

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

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and put that two frets higher.

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

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and then little finger will 
sneak in underneath that one.

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

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

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so they're kinda pressing together.

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

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So that'll be your G5 Power Chord.

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

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

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

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

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you're gonna get 
those open strings ringing out,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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but then ,
so there's three notes dead.

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And the top three completely muted.

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It's really important.
(plays)

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Otherwise the shape is pretty cool.

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

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The 2nd finger kind of sits up like that.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Now, remembering what I said
about how important it is

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to keep those thin strings muted,

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I mean 
if you wanted to be really careful

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

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

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

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

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and whatever.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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this has only got four chords,

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

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

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

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

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But.

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

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

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

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

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

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up and down, and changing the Root note,

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

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So, F# is at the 2nd fret.

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B is at the 7th fret.

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A is at the 5th fret.

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And D is right up at the 10th fret.

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

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

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

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That's the most important bit there.

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

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

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

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but try and get 
these ones down first.

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

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

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. . .

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

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and you want to try 
and do the rhythm for it

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. . .

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

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So, that's just an execise for you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Starting with a C - G - F - G.

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(plays) back to the C and down to F

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. . .

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

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Maybe you should transcribe it yourself.

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It might not be a bad plan.

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Anyway, so, 
have a muck around with those,

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make sure that you 
get the technique right.

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

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

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See you dudes.

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(Tassie Devil singing.)