2. ROCK! This section is going to be on basic rock techniques. It involves the pentatonic scale and movable power chords. With these two things you can tackle any Green Day song, Blink 182 song, and most Metallica songs, and start some soloing while at it. Metallica pretty much strictly uses power chords and pentatonic scales (plus wah wah pedals). Pentatonic The name means basically, 5 notes. Penta=5. Tonic=note. Pentatonic. It’s pretty much impossible to play a wrong note while improvising over the right set of chords with this scale. There are no notes that will hurt to hear like the major scale will have. Which is why it’s great to start with this. It sounds very blues-y, but crank up the gain and speed it up and WAM, rock… e-------------------------------(5)-8----B-------------------------5-8-----------G--------------------5-7----------------D-------------5-(7)---------------------A--------5-7----------------------------E-(5)-8----------------------------------That is A minor pentatonic scale. The parentheses notes are the “root” notes. Meaning, that is what names the scale. If you get the same pattern of notes, and move it to a different set of frets, wherever those root notes are, makes the name. Practice playing this up and down. Alternate pick it. Say the notes as you play them. Know the notes. BE THE NOTES... not really. Power Chords The big secret to rock music! These simple “chords” can be moved anywhere and only have 2 notes. They sound rocking, and you will know the sound when you play them. The reason I say “chords” is because the definition of a chord is 3 or more notes played at once. Power chords are only 2 notes, the root and the 5th. Don’t worry about the technically lingo now though. That’s for later ;) C5 E5 G5 G5 C5 E5 e-----------------------------------7---B-----------------------------8----5---G.----------------------7----5---------D--5-------------------5---------------A--3-----2-----5----------------------E---------0-----3-----------------------
Those are all power chords. Those are the easiest way of playing them too. At the second C5 on the G and B string, the pattern changes because of the relationship between these 2 strings. It doesn’t really make it harder though, just something to remember. These can be moved ANYWHERE on the fret board as long as the relationship of notes stays the same. Iron Man the song is based on power chords, a lot of Iron Maiden, Metallica, Alice in Chains, Green Day, and other rock bands. When you start to master the power chords and the pentatonic scale, you can try to write using them. Write a power chord progression, and then record it. Now play it back and improvise over with the corresponding Pentatonic Scale. If you don’t know the theory of how to find the right scale, then play the progression and see all the notes in it. Then find the scale that has the most of the same notes, it’s that easy.