From the course: Rock Guitar Lessons: Teach Yourself to Play

Power chords

- All right, let's check out some power chords. So power chords are like the bread and butter of rock and roll. They just move all around to make riffs sound bigger and heavier. So you've already played a few power chords in the playing two notes together example. So you'll see they're labeled as A5 or D5. So in this next example, which is called three-chord progression, it moves between these three different power chords in open position. So let's check it out. (metronome ticking) One, two, ready, go. (hard rock music) And the next riff is in the style of Queen, so it's kind of like Another One Bites the Dust. The key is that it uses power chords, as well as single notes. So let's get into that one. (metronome ticking) One, two, three, four, go. (rock music) All right, let's move onto rock duet. Now with this duet, it's cool because there are two different parts, and you all have the reading capability at this point to read either of those parts. So I'm gonna play both of them, and you can certainly play along with either part with me, but you can also play along with a friend, and hear both those parts simultaneously. So let's check it out. (metronome ticking) One, two, ready, go. (rock music) Okay, so the next riff is in the style of Ramones, more of like a punk rock kind of riff, and it utilizes power chords. Now one of the tricks in moving around with power chords, in even some of the single string examples that we've done, is muting out some of the notes that would ring out. So sometimes open strings ring out. In this Ramones riff, it's really part of the riff that you have to mute and rest. Every time you see one of those quarter note rests, take your hand and mute out those strings, okay? So completely stop the strings from ringing. So let's check this riff out. (metronome ticking) One, two, ready, go. (rock music)

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