Hi! I’m Nate Savage and welcome to video 3 of the Rhythm Guitar Quick-Start Series.
In this lesson, I’m going to teach you how to move the power chord shapes that we learned
in the last lesson all around the fretboard to play any power chord you want. This way,
if a band made or a friend that you’re jamming with or even some sheet music tells you to
play a specific power chord, you’re going to have a way to go right to that power chord
confidently. Now in order to be able to move your power chords
around efficiently, you’re going to have to know the note names on the sixth and fifth
strings. Let’s start with our low E string. Below you’re going to see a graphic with
the names of the notes of the first 12 frets. Those are going to be your root notes for
your power chords. You’re going to want to eventually memorize the notes on the sixth
string but for now you can use this graphic as a reference.
Now, if you look at the note names on the first 12 frets, you’re probably going to notice
that they’re just the names of the first seven letters of the regular alphabet –
A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. We’re just starting with an open E string. You’re going to see
those natural notes with some sharp and flat notes in between. Don’t worry too much about
the sharp and flat notes on the low E string right now. I just want you to realize that
the notes come from somewhere that you’re already familiar with, just the first seven
letters of the natural alphabet. This may take a little while for you to memorize and
that’s totally fine but the good thing is you’re already doing something that’s
going to help you memorize it. As we work on our power cords throughout this lesson
and in your daily practice, you’ll eventually start to memorize the notes on the low E string.
What we’re going to do now is just put a G power chord that we learned in the last
lesson on, just the two-note version, and if you remember I told you that the note you’re
playing with your index finger is always the root note of that power cord. So that’s a G
note on the third fret, so that means that this power chord is a G power chord.
The cool thing about power chords is they’re movable. You can move them anywhere, as long
as your index finger is on either the sixth string or the fifth string. So I can move this
anywhere and it’s still a power chord but wherever my index finger goes, that changes
the name of that power chord. So let me give you an example of this. If I were to move
this G power chord down two frets to where my index finger was on the first fret of
the low E string, and then my third finger was on the third fret of the A string, I would
be playing an F power chord. Look at the graphic. That first fret is labeled as an F and that’s
where we get our name for our power chords. So, index fingers on the first fret on an F, that
means we have an F power chord. So let’s do this again. Let’s move this power
chord around and see if you can find out what power chord we’re playing. Put your index
on the fifth fret of the low E string, put the rest of the shape on. And look on the
graphic. What note is that fifth fret? That’s an A, so that means we’re playing an A power
chord. So that may seem really simple to you and if so, that’s great because it is simple.
You can move this power chord anywhere on the sixth string and play just tons of power
chords. And if this seems a little bit harder for you, the one challenging part of this
is memorizing the root notes on the low E string. Start off with the natural notes;
F here on the first fret, G on the third fret, A on the fifth fret and so on. The natural
notes will come easier and once you practice this more and more, you’ll start to memorize
where the sharp and flat root notes are too. As I mentioned earlier, you can play your
power chords either on your sixth string root note or your fifth string root note. Take
a look at the graphic below and you’re going to see the note names on the A string too.
This is the exact same progression of notes. The only real difference is we’re starting
on an A instead of an E. So let’s play a power chord with our root note or our index finger
on the A string. Let’s go to the fifth fret of the A string. Put your index finger on
their where your root note and then let the rest of your shape fall in place; your third
finger is going to come and grab the seventh fret of the D string. And check out what note
you’re playing on the fifth fret with your index finger. That’s going to give your
power chord its name. This is a D note right here on the fifth fret of the A string, so we’re
going to be playing a D power chord there. And you can move the shape just like the sixth
string root note shape. You can move this all the way up and down the fretboard anywhere
you want. And when your root note that your index finger is playing changes, the name
for that specific power chord changes. So, for example, if I put my index finger back here
on the third fret of the A string, that’s a C, so I put the rest of my shape on and
I’ll be playing a C power chord. You may be thinking “Nate, what is the point
of learning sixth and fifth string root note power chords?” That’d be a good question.
Let me show you what the value of this is by giving you a quick example. If I wanted
to play a G, C, D power chord progression, that’s just a common chord progression and
I only use sixth string root notes for that, check out what I would have to do. I would
play a G power chord because that’s a G note on the third fret on the sixth string.
If I wanted to play a C, I would have to move all the way up here to the eight fret to play
that because this is a C note with my index finger, my root note. Then a D would be two
frets up on the tenth fret. I could play a G, C, D progression using power chords with
just sixth string root notes – G, C, D. And that’s fine but that’s kind of a lot
of shifting around to do. It’s much more efficient to mix up your
fifth and sixth string root note power chords to play progressions like this just because
you don’t have to jump around so much. If I start here on my G power chord again, what
I can do is play a C right here using a fifth string root note power chord because the third
fret of the fifth string is a C. And now to play a D, what I can do is move up to where
my index finger is on the fifth fret because that’s a D and play a D power chord there.
So instead of jumping around to play G’s, C’s and D’s using just sixth string root notes,
I can use sixth and fifth string root notes to play G’s, C’s and D power chords.
So I hope you see the value in being able to use both your sixth and fifth string root
note power cords to move around instead of just jumping all over the fretboard, right?
Just make sure you concentrate on playing them cleanly as you work through them.
So to help you work on your power chords and your power chord transitions, I made a jam
track for you. It’s a really simple jam track that just goes through a G, C, D progression
and basically what we’re going to do is just stay on a G for one measure. And if you
hit a whole note, that’s fine. 1, 2, 3, 4. You can do quarter notes too. Then it moves
to a C for the next measure. 1, 2, 3, 4. Then D for a measure. 1, 2, 3, 4. And you can work
on mixing your sixth and fifth string root note power chords up or you can stay all on
your sixth string or all on your fifth string. It’s up to you.
Here’s a little example of what it might sound like when you practice this.
Thanks for watching this lesson. It’s a lot of information, I know, so feel free to
comeback and review it if you need to but being able to move power chords around like
this is an extremely valuable skill to have as a rhythm guitarist. In the next lesson,
we’re going to cover one of the most feared topics for newer players and that’s bar
chords but don’t worry. I’m going to give you some tips for making your bar finger really
strong and then making your bar chords sound clean too. If you have any questions, leave
them here on the comments or email me nate@guitarsystem.com and I’ll see you.