Friday, February 18, 2011

Rock Guitar Lesson - Must Know Chords & Scales

By Nick Dillon


This rock guitar lesson will explain the commonly used scales and chords that are used in rock music. Rock music essentially grew out of blues; so much of the components of rock will also be common to blues music.

With rock music there are common chords that are used, the most common being the 5 chord or power chord, the major and minor chords. In rock guitar the most common scales used for soloing are the minor pentatonic, major pentatonic and blues scales.

The 5 chord is simply the root and the perfect fifth and can be played just using these two notes or adding the root up an octave using three strings. This chord is used extensively in rock, hard rock, metal and punk music. The chord is commonly played with the root on the low E string or on the A string, but a 5 chord can also be played less commonly over the higher strings giving a brighter sound. Because most chords are constructed using a root and fifth, it is important to know how to use the 5 chords as they are a stepping stone to learning most other chords on the guitar.

Rock guitar commonly relies on the major and minor chords, in the form of triads. If we take a 5 chord and and add a minor third to it, we create a minor chord. If we add a major third, we create a major chord. It is common to play these chords in the open position on the fretboard, but they can be played on any part of the fretboard.

In rock, the most commonly scale used for soloing is the minor pentatonic scale. It is the "bread and butter" scale of rock. This scale is extremely versatile and should be the first scale learned when studying rock guitar. The blues scale is also very useful, and is created by simply adding a flat five to the minor pentatonic.

The major scale and the major pentatonic scale are commonly used in rock guitar. These scales will give a brighter sound to that of the minor pentatonic, and tend to be favoured by more upbeat or even country players. These scales can be applied to many different types of rock music from country to heavy rock to pop.

Thank you for reading this rock guitar lesson, I hope it gives you a clear understanding of what you need to learn to understand and play rock music. Best of luck with your guitar playing.




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