>> VIEWER-SUBMITTED CC << Brian: Uhh Tetris. Can you do Tetris?
Mario: Mmmm...
(Korobeiniki - Tetris theme song)
Brian: That's one. That's one for one. What you got? What you got?
Jason: One I know he can play: Panama - Van Halen. Mario: Oh.
(Panama - Van Halen)
Brian: How did you make a David Lee Roth kick with like a sieg heil? *laughs*
Jason: What?
Brian: There's a little bit of this up in there. *laughs*
(Automated voice) The Modern Rogue can play basic guitar chords.
Jason: I have no musical ability whatsoever.
Brian: Wait, none whatsoever? Jason: None.
Jason: I played Trombone for a few months in Junior High.
Brian: You know what a chord is?
Brian: Have you went to-- Jason: Not really.
Brian: Have you ever in your life played any musical instrument
where you strike more than two notes at the same time?
Jason: Does Guitar Hero count?
Brian: No! No! Jason: No.
Brian: That's why we have Mario. Thank you so much for joining us, man. This is gonna be amazing.
Jason: Alright so, Mario, you're an expert guitarist.
I feel comfortable saying that. You don't have to say anything, just kind of...there we go. Yep.
Mario: Okay.
Brian: Mario, every party I've ever been to, there's been a guitar.
I have not had the courage to pick one up and try to do a goddamn thing
because I don't know anything about guitars.
What is the easiest way for somebody to convince a pretty lady
that he knows what he's doing as he pretends to play guitar?
Mario: You can actually like put in a little bit of time and learn some open chords.
Brian: Ehhh...
Mario: Or you can learn power chords.
Brian: Hook me up. Mario: Alright cool. So if you want to do a power chord,
there's two ways to do it. One of them is you use one finger. That's the easiest
Brian: I like this already. Mario: So you'll do it with an open string,
and then the string next to it - the second fret up.
So these are the frets right here. Brian: Right.
Mario: So we're talking about like, let's say, we're going to do an E power chord.
So this is the E string,
and then you're going to place your finger on top of the second fret on the A string, which is the next string over.
Brian: Right. Mario: So you're playing these notes
but you're playing them together, so you're going like this.
And so, if you want to rock it out, you just hit that several times. You're just going:
Mario: And then... Brian: Damn..
Jason: ...we're good. Thanks, Mario. We got this
Mario: There's that. Jason: Startin' a band!
Mario: But then you got to go somewhere afterwards.
So, you know, you have two paths to go. You either go down to the next strings and do the same thing, so you're doing:
But then eventually you're gonna wanna go somewhere else, so that's when you use two fingers.
Brian: Okay, alright. Jason: Whoa.
Mario: It's the same principle except that now you're going to go ahead
and use this finger down here
and then the next finger on the next string over, two frets over. So you're gonna wanna:
And then you can go:
Brian: Feelin' the rock.
Mario: And you can use these two fingers, you can use these fingers. It doesn't matter, it's just two fingers.
Brian: Alright, Jason, you wanna give this a try? Mario: Jason do it.
Jason: See, here's the moment in Modern Rogue where I wish I was secretly an expert
so I can just blow everybody's a**es out. Brian: Alright, let's hear it.
Brian: He's a Rock God!
So right now you have an open stream, Jason: Yeah.
Brian: and then you're doing the one that makes it a power chord.
Jason: Yeah. Brian: Now let go.
This one's the open string,
and then this one will be the one to make it a power chord. You got to hit these two.
Jason: Oh! Oh, I got to be like accurate. Brian: Yeah, yeah. You got it.
Jason: I thought I just like did this. Brian: Noo, no, no. You gotta know what you're doing.
Brian: You got it!?
Jason: I, uh, well, I wouldn't say I got it. Brian: Now, now, now, go back to the first.
Now go back to the first.
Jason: I know that, if you do that, like all the sound stops.
Brian: Okay, alright, so now, as Mario explained,
if you want to be able to take it all over the map, this one all the way up
This one to... Mario: Use your ring finger,
Mario: like that. Brian: Yeah, there you go!
Jason: I got these giant hands though, and, yeah, they're made for love, not music.
Brian: Now, here's the thing: you could take that all over the board. Go up and down.
Mario: Good enough, good enough. Brian: Almost! Almost!
Brian: Make sure you're two apart. You're one apart right now.
Everyone: Two frets, two frets. Jason: Okay.
Jason: Yeah, that's tough! Mario: That's something that you're just going to develop
as you're playing. But, you know, as long as you understand the principles of where your fingers go,
then everything else comes afterward. Jason: So you always keep them two apart?
Jason: I see one of the things that I was doing was: I was taking care not to hit these other ones, and it doesn't matter.
Mario: Yes and no, because,
even though you're not hitting them,
just the sheer impact of you playing something on the guitar might cause them to ring out.
So, the trick to that is,
when you're placing your fingers, you just lightly rest this on top of the other strings,
and so this is what happens: you can hear that one, Jason: Yeah.
Mario: you can hear this one, but
Mario: they're all muted. Jason: Yeah, yeah.
Mario: So...so you can even go:
Mario: And you're only playing these two. Brian: See, that's what you want to do is that thrashing, right?
Jason: Yeah, yeah.
Brian: So here's the beautiful part about learning that power chord is you can make up songs on the fly
and, in fact, I don't even know how good Mario's improvisational skills are,
but I bet, if you name one subject right now, he can make a power chord ballad based on it.
Jason: Grilled cheese sandwich. Brian: Alright, grilled cheese sandwiches, let's take it away.
Brian (singing): Grilled cheese,
you mean so much to me.
Grilled cheese,
you're so mean,
you bring my cholesterol to my knees.
Brian: See, we're already getting laid. What are you doing? You're applauding.
Jason: Me?...Yeah.
Brian: Once you get the power chord down, you're just all over the map. You can always do those bass, major chords
all over the guitar, but you were talking about open chords are the way to go, so you have a little more diversity.
Mario: Yeah, absolutely.
An open chord just means that you're playing open strings in addition to fretting some of the strings.
Brian: So, when you hit all the strings, all of them sound right?
Mario: Right, exactly, yeah.
Brian: You get to do the Jason Murphy thrash thing. Mario: Exactly.
Yeah, the Jason Murphy, Pete Townshend...you know. Jason: You get 'em confused pretty easily, right?
Mario: So, for example, when we were playing the E power chord over here,
we were just playing these two notes, Brian: Right.
Mario: but now, if we want to take it up a notch,
we'll also place another finger over here, and now we have an E minor chord when we hit all the strings.
Brian: So that's nothing, two, two, nothing, nothing, nothing?
Mario: Exactly. Brian: Got it.
Mario: Okay? And then, after that, you know, we can learn the C chord, which is essentially
nothing, three, two, nothing, one, nothing.
Brian: So, zero, three, two, nothing, one. Mario: Exactly.
And then, after that, we take it to the G chord, which is three, two, nothing, nothing, three, three.
And then the last one is going to be the D chord, which is going to be
uh, you can just not play this - the first string, but it's going to be nothing, nothing, two, three, two.
Brian: Alright, now it looks like you're muting this, Mario: Yes.
Brian: so even if you have bad aim down here,
your thumb is kinda just muting that first one. Mario: Yes.
Brian: Got it. Mario: Or, I could fret it with my thumb,
but, you know, that's for another day.
Brian: Yeah, yeah, alright. That's advanced stuff. Mario: You know, I could go...yeah. So we're going:
So then the progression would be:
And that's in everything.
Brian: Did you hear that, that's the sound of Jason: That's everything!
Brian: panties dropping all over the universe. Mario: Or, you can take those same chords
and you can just start at the G and that's like a completely different song.
Jason: We should be recording this because I'm gonna watch this
over and over if we were re--oh, hey. Brian: They are. Hey, hi, look at this.
So with just those four chords, you can mix and match the order of everything to tell all different kinds of stories musically.
Mario: Absolutely. Jason: And play 80% of the pop songs on the radio?
Something ridiculous like that? Mario: Pretty much.
You know, all of your favorites, like Eagle-Eye Cherry?
Jason (half-singing): Stay tonight. Rock the break of dawn.
Tomorrow.
Jason: I hate that song. I hate that song,
but as soon as you said it, as soon as you said it... Brian: Looked like you kinda loved it.
Mario: You heard it. You just heard it. Jason: It flipped the switch, yeah.
Brian: Oh, uh, do I have to go play? Mario: Do you want to play?
Brian: Yeah, alright, I'll give it a try. Mario: Yeah, play some chords.
Jason: I'm gonna get it. I actually have a guitar at home.
I've owned a guitar for 15 years and have no idea how to play it.
Brian: So a G is a three, two,
nothing, nothing, two--there are three, three, right? Like:
Like that? Right?
Now I know a D and it's just a triangle at the end. Bunch of nothings, and then two, three, two.
Mario: Exactly.
Brian: Right? Jason: I kind of want to make out with you right now.
Brian: C is--I remember it's like this cascade, so it's like: nothing, three, two, nothing, one, nothing. Right?
Brian: Right? Oh, and E minor? Mario: E minor.
Brian: E minor is a...
Mario: You always want to prepare to how you're going to go to the next chord,
so, for example, if you're at E minor here and you're going to go to C,
so you see how you lifted up all your fingers there? Brian: Yeah.
Mario: There's actually an easier way to do that where this finger is going to land in the same place.
Brian: Oh, you're right! Mario: So just move these two fingers.
Brian: You're right! Because I'm thinking like, you know, "E minor, E minor, E minor," and I'm like
stop, and then reset. Jason: Oh, yeah.
Brian: But this one's, meanwhile, going to the exact same place right?
Mario: And that'll bridge it to the next chord, like, even more seamlessly.
Brian: So what should I be doing instead?
Mario: So you're thinking like I'm about to make this change, but this is going to stay here, so then you do that.
Brian: Got it. Got it. Mario: Exactly.
Now, that's not always gonna be the case. So, for example, if you're doing G,
you're gonna move all your fingers again. Brian: Right.
Mario: But, let's say you're going G to D...
Brian: Everything's going to change here, right? Mario: Not everything is going to change if you go to D.
This finger is going to stay in the same place.
You're just going to move these two.
Brian: Oh, you're right. I never would have noticed that. That's amazing.
Mario: Yeah.
So, if you do a little bit of planning, then you get quicker in your position.
Brian: Dude, that's fantastic.
I have a guitar in my office and people ask if I know how to play and the answer is always:
"No, I only know enough to impress my daughters."
If you want to be able to impress like, you know, your girlfriend or daughters just enough. I mean, it seems like
just knowing the open chords would be the way to go, right? Mario: That's right.
Brian: Alright, here, show us some stuff.
So we got power chords and we got open chords. What can you accomplish
just with what we learned in the last six minutes? Mario: You can start writing songs right away.
You know, you have more than enough information to create a chord progression,
and you just have to put words to it.
Brian: So, after you learn power chords, after you learn open chords,
why don't you play something and see if we can figure out what it is?
Brian: Uh, that's the one by the sad guy. Jason: Smashing Pumpkins.
Brian: Yes. Jason: Dun-un dun.
Brian: Duun. Yeah, there we go, alright.
(Automated voice) "Disarm" by the Smashing Pumpkins.
Brian: Uh, that's Nirvana: Come as You Are, is it? Jason: Yeah.
Mario: It's About a Girl.
Brian: Oh, About a Girl, yeah, sorry. Jason: Oh, right.
(Automated voice) "About A Girl" by Nirvana.
Jason: Eagle-Eye Cherry. Brian: Okay, right, right, got it, got it, got it.
(Automated voice) "Save Tonight" by Eagle-Eye Cherry.
Jason: Woo! Play some Matchbox Twenty! Woo!
Mario: Oh!
Jason: Oh, that's, uh, Bush.
Brian: Oh, yeah, Glycerine?
Jason: Yeah. Brian: Yeah!
Jason: The fact that I requested Matchbox Twenty and knew Glycerine immediately
I'm probably gonna get a divorce. Not my choice.
(Automated voice) "Glycerine" by Bush.
Jason: Mario Alvarez, is it true that people can learn this magical skill from you face-to-face?
Mario: Absolutely. I do lessons and you can find me on Facebook under Mario Alvarez guitar lessons.
Brian: Okay now, I believe that. What I don't believe is all the different bands that you're in.
How many bands are you in? Mario: The last tally was five.
Brian: Oh yeah, yeah, I know Thunderhag, I know Karaoke Apocalypse, what else?
Mario: There's also Calling Jack Burton, Brian: Yeah
Mario: which is an 80s tribute band. I've got a blues band called Asleep in the Desert,
Brian: Yep. Mario: and I play in a band called Recovering.
I usually only play with them when we do Van Halen songs, but they do full albums cover to cover.
Brian: So you realize now is our one chance to come up with the Modern Rogue theme song?
So all you have to do is just figure out some musical parts and we'll figure out the lyrics.
Brian (singing): I'm a man.
Jason (singing): I can steal a van.
Brian: I got a plan.
Jason: But I don't know if I can so I gotta have a partner.
Brian: A demon-haunted partner with a beard.
Jason: That's me.
Brian: 'Cause I'm a modern rooooooogue. [singing ends]
Brian: Good night ladies and gentlemen. Jason: Thank you, Austin. Good night!