The Two Most Famous Rock Guitar Chords
Two simple chords get used in a lot of famous rock guitar songs.
You have heard them before...
Many times...
Over and over again...
These chords are easy to play and may be the key to unlocking how to play your favorite songs.
I first demonstrate these chords in the video to show you how they sound. Just by hearing them, they may already be familiar to you. The simplicity of using these two chords and the fact that they have been used so many times in creative ways in many popular songs is a little baffling.
WARNING!!! This video has a little music theory, but I promise not to overdo it. I explain how major and minor chords are created in general. Simply put, all we do is take specific notes out of a scale and play those notes only. That's how a chord is created, and It's not complicated. It's pretty easy. Most guitar players don't realize that we don't need to have the lowest-sounding note of the chord be the note that the chord is named after. We could play those notes in any order that we want to. For example, a C chord has the notes C E G. The E or the G notes could be the lowest-pitched note. As long as it has the other notes, it is still considered a C chord.
For example, a C chord can be played as:
C E G
E G C
G C E
The chords you play in the open position or barre chord shapes you maybe be already familiar with are triads. Typically, those chords use 4, 5, or 6 strings. Each string has a note on it, so those chords are comprised of 4, 5, or 6 notes. If you are playing simple major or minor chords, those ways of playing the chords do have the three required notes in them, but some of those notes occur more than once as octaves.
Playing a basic C chord in open/1st position is typically a 5-string chord.
6th string- Not played
5th string - C note (3rd fret)
4th String - E note (2nd fret)
3rd string - G note (open string)
2nd string - C note (1st fret)
1st string - E note (open string)
That version of the C chord has two E notes and two C notes.
As I said before, we are only letting each note only occur once. By having each note of the chord only occur once, it still fulfills the minimum requirement to be called a chord. Most people think that chords are 4, 5, or 6 strings. This is not true.
There are many notes on the guitar fretboard. Using only the three required notes of a chord, in any order, on any of the strings makes the creation of variations easy but also very overwhelming. There are many ways we can create the same chord. But we're not going to worry about all the shapes on all the strings all over the fretboard. That would make for a very long video. This video will only focus on two major chord shapes on the same strings.
There's also a very easy way to quickly change between these two shapes. Your first finger will remain in the same position and location for one chord shape, and the same finger will stay exactly in the same place for the next chord. It is the easiest way to get between the two chords.
Remember always to have fun with your guitar, and I will see you next time....
If you are looking to learn another excellent rhythm guitar skill, you can check out my FREE lesson on how to weave lead guitar melody lines to your rhythm guitar playing here: https://rhythmguitarlessons.net/Pro
Have you ever heard extra notes played between chords and wondered, "Why do THESE notes sound good?" or "How can I do that?".
Most guitar players struggle to find the right notes to play between chords to make their songs sound better.
The fact is, it's easy to do once you learn how. And the result is your guitar playing sounds much more complex than it is...
This is good news for you:
I've created a brand new eGuide (yes, it's free), where I show you an easy way to connect chords with single-note melodies to sound like a pro.
The best part is it's 100% FREE (no strings attached)!
Download your copy instantly so you can instantly make your rhythm guitar playing sound better. https://rhythmguitarlessons.net/Pro
About Mark Turko: Mark Turko is a professional guitar player and instructor with over 30 years of experience and teaches guitar lessons online.
.
About Mark Turko: Mark Turko is a professional guitar player and instructor with over 30 years of experience and teaches guitar lessons online.