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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Posts by cytania
How are your F and B chords NZ?
F and B are the beginning of playing barre shapes up and down the guitar neck. It's the shape being made on simple punk songs when the guitarist just appears to be moving up and down the neck real quick.
Powerchords just miss alot of it out by not playing all the strings. In a way powerchords are easier and some metal-heads use them without knowing anything else.
Look for my post on 'All Day and All Of The Night' by the Kinks, which is one big F chord barre fest.
Punk goes way back to the garage bands of the mid-sixties. Their best moments were gathered on the compilation 'Nuggets' and this was a key record for late seventies punks.
The New York Dolls/Ramones/Stooges way of telling things grossly over-simplifies things and misses out bands like Sparks and Mott The Hoople who had the looks and sound, but went off and did other things.
The story of punk is one big lie.
Here's the clip I mentioned, I think what John 5 has is a killswitch...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIzR-JtGdbU
Unless anyone else knows better.
London Calling - The Clash (I live by the river) - use a barre chord to get that attacking E chord.
Stormy Weather - C chord then lift of first finger then Dm7 but pluck the A string as root not D, then up to open G. Sounds cool.
Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head - Another great song.
Rain has inspired some of the best music, wonder what will result from 2007?
Hi J, an arpeggio is where the strings of the guitar are picked in order, either up or down. So typically you'd pluck the root note for the chord and then finger the last 3 or 4 strings using a finger for each string, although you could drag the pick for a similar effect. So for the Em chord you'd hit low E with your thumb then pluck the G string with your first finger, then pluck the B string with your second finger and then pluck high-E with your ring finger. Arpeggios with the little finger are harder as this is the weakest digit. A reverse arpeggio would be root, then working up E B G. 'Love Is All Around' is a good one to practise this on, as it sounds 'right' reverse arpeggio-ed.
'I Don't Want To Talk About It' by Rod Stewart, verse Dm G C. Use barres for the chorus F G sounds nice.
Hi NZ, the numbers are the frets you need to finger, unfortunately the give no clues about which fingers to use to get them. You read the tab from left to right. Often the best fingers to use are the same as chords you already know, so the first line of Trivium is really just a Bm chord.
The trick is only playing a few strings, not the whole lot like in normal acoustic strumming. If you want to strum naturally then an electric guitar needs to be set to low-gain, low volume, mid-tone which gives a thin cheap sound, 60s Surf and GaragePunk bands used it. But for modern rock you want the big distorted solo sound that high-gain (overdrive) gives. The downside is normal strumming makes a crashing 'cluttered' sound, you sometimes hear industrial/kraut/death metal rock bands use it, but it grates after a while. So powerchords avoid playing all the strings for a focused sound and fingering is often easier.
Have you managed to get any songs covered? Alot of bands spend endless time rehearsing but never really do much anyone else would want to listen to. If you can play and sing with a bit of confidence and humour it cancels out all the flash playing and posing that goes on in bands.
Look for a song close to your heart, that sums up what you want say, a kind of 'I'm here' song. Hopefully it'll be simple and you can play it no matter how nervous you are. Then you'll be ready for the question 'oh is that a guitar? can you play? go on play me something'. Watch their faces change when you can belt out something they recognise...
First off get the guitar neck up high so hand stretches are easier.
1) Trivium- Detonation, is powerchords. You want your first two fingers on the A and D strings and then your ring or pinkie hanging off two frets down. You could try holding A and D with your first finger only, see which is more comfortable for you. After that it's just a matter of sliding up and down the guitar striking the open E string. Then the powerchording stops and your left hand needs to make some double-stop type moves on the A string.
2) Blink 182 - more powerchord but done as barre chord G (F shape on the 3rd fret), just make sure you only play the top 3 strings to keep the distortion uncluttered.
Last tab looks real tough, make the 5 and 4 covers right at the fret and then stretch back so that your first finger can just about catch the 2nd fret. Or possibly hook your thumb over, but you may do no more than mute it...
Hi PJ, an acoustic amp is more like a hi-fi amp, it tries to amplify all frequencies the same amount. An acoustic amp tries to take the natural guitar sound and just put it through the speaker (they do have tricks like chorus and reverb but nothing too gross). A regular electric guitar map is cruder, it tends to boost mid-frequencies, giving that in-yer-face electric guitar sound.
Practise amps can be used in bands, the fender champ was a favourite, smaller amp = easier to overdrive. Gauging volume needed is tricky, my own is only 8 watts but can go very loud at home. However at guitar class I couldn't even hear it over a rousing chorus of acoustics strumming 'Johnny B Goode'!
Gibson Lucille has no F-holes right? I think this was done to reduce distortion, so you'd be going against type getting a hi-gain amp and trying to create alot of snarl. Natural match would be a clean amp like a Fender Twin but take it along plug in, you'll know when you get the sound you want.
Hi Phil, back in the 80s I really liked all the synth bands but when I decide to learn an instrument I didn't want to spend all my time on Cubase programming I wanted something immediate. I like guitar because you pick it up and play and how you sound comes from the playing and not hours of staring at a screen. I have a Behringer Vamp 2 but I stick with the presets (or at least a couple of good ones) because I want to be playing not knob-twiddling.
For me the challenge is to find time and places to play. Had been learning some children's songs for my nephews this weekend but of course I got a cold and have lost my voice!
Anyone know of any web page or program that chords can be entered into and it tells you the key the song is in?
Some songs seem to use nearly every chord going, no doubt this means there is a key change within the song but it often comes quick and fast (I'm thinking 'Kodachrome' by Paul Simon) how to decide a solo or fill to go with such tricky pieces?
Hi Phil, for most musicians the both come together, however there are notable exceptions. Elton John for instance can generate music to anything, but on his own all you have is 'Song For A Guy', luckily he has Bernie Taupin who turns out great lyrics.
Sometimes a band have a riff or break hanging around waiting for a place to put it. Fleetwood Mac had the big bass and guitar part of 'The Chain' worked out a long time before it was grafted into a Lindsey Buckingham song. The insertion is rather obvious once you know but it's so good you can forgive them.
Musicians usually talk about having a phrase in their head or a chord/note sequence that nags away at them. It's when the two link fit together that a song usually forms.
Killswitch? Is this the thing I saw John 5 doing in a Fender Custom shop video where they'd rewired a telecaster for him? Both of the tele's two knobs were volume. He could then turn one off and work the two way switch with his right and create a stuttering flickering effect...
Howabout a basic tuner?
If you must go for an effects pedal then one you can't do on-the-amp is wah-wah, instant Hendrix but a bit stuck in it's era...
The big innovation steel strung guitars brought wasn't the strings but the steel rod in the neck - the truss rod. The rod makes the neck stronger so it can be narrower. Without it necks have to be deeper and wider. Classical guitars are based in a tradition to which the steel rod is anathema.
Time to get on Chordie Miller and print out lots of songs, some may be too tricky but they should get you out the rut of just one songbook. Getting a good fat folder of songs together gives you leeway, somedays I don't want to do uptempo upbeat songs and out come the country heartbreakers. 'Here Comes The Sun' don't work when it's raining, much better to try 'Stormy Weather'. Songs for practise need varying and need to suit your mood.
Drum track first, rhythmn guitar, lead embellishments, vocals.
Playing to drums will certainly improve your playing, as will listening to your own vocals, don't be too down-heartened by how your voice sounds.
Famous instance of band recording in wrong order 'Reproduction' by the Human League, left the drums till last and then had to keep chopping the tempo.
Meddle, Wish You Were Here, Division Bell
The idea of palm mute on electric guitar is part of the metal bag of tricks. The amp should be set to ultra hi-gain and the guitar turned full on. Even just blowing over the strings creates a howl. Now when you plam mute, even though on an acoustic the sound would be a vague plunk, you get a screaming solo sound but not too much. Play the same lick without plam mute and it will be a distorted mish-mash.
Hi Roger, you've just highlighted why Chordie exists - sheet music sucks, indeed original issues from the 60s are often the worst. What publishing companies used to do is get a musician to listen to the record and notate what they heard. Sure these guys had perfect pitch but they were often pianist and often looked to create an 'easy piano' version. They often had no idea of how a guitar would tackle the piece, rock was new and the music business was stuck in the past (there are exceptions like I've seen 1930s sheet music with proper ukelele chords).
Now you'd think things would have improved but modern music books are often still compiled from these early inaccurate notations. Also there's a new trend, computer analysis - yep they feed the track through software and out pops the chords, sorta...
Hi Michel you have an advantage over a complete beginner in that you know what you want. Never heard of Quest but there are alot of far East makers using almost randomly picked words on the headstock, this does not mean they are bad instruments though. If you like the feel the next step is to ask to play, you could take an electronic tuner and checking how it holds tuning and the intonation but your ears will tell you alot straight off.
Acoustic to electric is a big jump, I found;
* no sound in your chest, weird
* less expression from just how you strum or hold the chord
* changing the sound on the amp to match the song
* there aren't so many true beginner's songs for electric
On the plus side;
* although you can solo acoustic, electrics were just made for it
* the mid-neck region comes alive at the point acoustics become jangly tinny
* rock songs that don't work acoustic spring out when you find the amp sound
* expression becomes more disciplined, at high outputs and gain a tiny flick of plectrum can sound like nothing on earth!
Thanks guys, I often come over all silly about electrics covers. You sometimes have a fine guitar in a lovely wood finish but round behind a cheap badly fitting cover. Also I find multiple covers a big turn-off. Last band I saw in a bar had a Fender Stratocaster player and the back of this instrument had a huge area under the tail piece devoted to springs, not sure what kind of tensioning gizmo this was.
Barre chords are the same notes as open chords but sound 'fuller'.
Barre chords let you play sharps (and flats) with ease.
Barre chords allow you to make funky percussive shuffle beats.
Some songs that sound sorta wrong in open chords come alive with barres.
Once you get comfortable with barre chords try adding them to songs you've formerly played open. For instance an F to G change can become a barre move.
Electric guitar often uses barre chords and often varies open with barre shapes to give different texture to verse or chorus.
Don't look to clamp vice-like in a barre, try and flex dancer-like between positions. Remember an E to A move played with emphasis on the low strings will sound fine even if the E string sounds open as it's in key.
Your parents are probably frightened that you'll turn up to 10 and spend hours powerchording!
You need to show them a good cheap strat type guitar like a Yamaha Pacifica and an amp modeller like the Line6 Pod2 or the Behringer Vamp2 that will allow you to blast away but with headphones on. Total UK price just over £200 if you look around. The virtual amp also gives you a tuner, heaps of effects and presets that immediately give you the sound of all the major rock bands. Later when you've practised you can get a full amp or even just rent a stack for gigs.
Let you parents know how improving learning a musical instrument is (it needs discipline and practise, particularly electric - solos need loadsa practise to get fast) and how this is going mean test scores/exams/homework/chores will also be worked at just as hard ;-)
Guitar chord forum - chordie → Posts by cytania
