- Roots and fifths are a commonly used technique
throughout many songs.
We're gonna talk about what they are,
how to identify them on the fret board
and how to play them together.
Let's talk about the root note
and then we'll talk about how to find the fifth.
A root note is the note that a chord, scale or key
is named after.
For example, the A major chord and the A minor chord,
both share the same root note, which is A.
The same would be true when referring to a particular scale,
like the A major scale or even the key of A.
The fifth refers to a specific interval.
And remember an interval is the space between two notes.
I'm going to play a major scale
and assign each note a number like this.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
(guitar strumming)
Now we're gonna focus on the first and fifth note
that I played and really listened to the sound
that it creates.
(guitar strumming)
Here's the first, there's the fifth.
(guitar strumming)
The reason why we play the root
and it's corresponding fifth so often
is because they're compatible with many of the chords
that we play on the guitar or the keyboard.
Many chords only have three notes,
two of them being the root and the fifth.
Let's apply our knowledge of the root and the fifth note
to a pattern that's easy to remember
and movable throughout the fret board.
We'll be playing on the E and A strings,
and I want you to imagine that you have a guitar player
and he's playing two bars of A
and then strumming two bars of G.
What we can do is start off on the A root note
on the fifth fret of the E string.
(guitar strumming)
And the fifth would be located on the A string seventh fret.
(guitar strumming)
So I'm using my first finger for the root
and then you can use your third or your fourth finger
for the fifth.
(guitar strumming)
So we could play,
root, root, fifth, root.
One, two, three, four.
For the two bars of G we could shift down to the third fret
to our G root note.
(guitar strumming)
And then the fifth would be on the fifth fret
of the A string.
(guitar strumming)
So we'd have root, root, fifth, root.
Root, root, fifth, root.
(guitar strumming)
Be sure to memorize that shape.
As long as you have the root note,
you'll always know the fifth.
Let's take a look at another pattern for the root
and the fifth note, this time moving from the A string
to the E string.
Now let's say the root note is on the A string, fifth fret,
that's a D note.
(guitar strumming)
Now we could apply the same shape that we just learned
(guitar strumming)
and head to the second string, seventh fret.
(guitar strumming)
That would be a fifth,
but this time we're gonna head to a lower fifth
on the E string.
So all we have to do is stay on the same fret
as our root note, the fifth fret,
(guitar strumming)
we just shift to the E string instead.
(guitar strumming)
So we have a lower fifth there.
(guitar strumming)
A string, E string.
Root, root, fifth, root.
Let's take a look at these notes over the shoulder.
First, we have the interval from the E to the A string,
fifth fret of the E.
(guitar strumming)
Root note,
and the fifth, A string, seventh fret.
Next we have the root to fifth from the A to E strings,
fifth fret of the A string root.
(guitar strumming)
And the fifth is on the fifth fret of the E string.
(guitar strumming)
Root, fifth.
The root to fifth patterns are widely used
throughout many styles of music.
Some good examples include,
"Paint it Black" by The Rolling Stones,
"Creep" by Radiohead and "My Girl" by The Temptations.
So there you have it,
memorize those root to fifth shapes,
you're gonna be using them often.
I'll see you later.