| | | Hey Friend,
I mentioned coming up with a cool-sounding riff the other day, starting off with an E5 power chord.
This all came about in a quick little five minute session (okay, confession... Usually when I sit down to do five, it ends up being ten or fifteen, maybe longer, just 'cause I lose track of time).
Download the chord chart and an MP3 of the exercise here. (It's a .zip file)
The progression on its own isn't the most original, but it sounds nice and when you listen to it, your mind starts thinking about melodies that can be played over it.
There's an airy vibe to these chords that comes from keeping the first and second strings open. As you can see, even with power chord shapes you can end up making other chords by playing through additional strings.
I've always really liked the sound of the suspended chords that you see in this little exercise. The Asus2 and Bsus4 chords get used quite a bit in Rock and Country.
Take a look at the E5 power chord in the chart. Notice that the first, second and sixth strings are all open strings. You're playing this power chord at the seventh fret, but still getting an open sound combined with that power.
Look at the notes used:
- sixth string is E
- fifth string is E
- fourth string is B
- third string is E
- second is B and
- first is E
So it's still a power chord, but you've been able to give it a lot of lift due to the open first and second string.
Shift a couple fingers from the E5 power chord and you get a much more complex sounding chord, the Badd11(no5)/E. Let me translate...
The B major scale notes B, C#, D#, E, F#, G# and A# make up the seven notes of the scale. If you keep going and repeat the scale, the eighth note is B, ninth is C#, tenth is D# and eleventh is E. Here are the notes laid out (tonic highlighted):
B, C#, D#, E, F#, G#, A#, B, C#, D#, E
This is a B chord that has lost its fifth note (F#) from the B major scale (we're just not playing the note in the chord). The 'add 11' is the fourth note from the scale one octave up (E). The chord is also rooted on the E note (the fourth note). As you can see, the third note (D#) is representing loud and proud, too.
Here are the chord notes laid out:
- sixth string is E
- fifth string is D#
- fourth string is B
- third string is D#
- second string is B and
- first string is E
By starting with a power chord and just using a little creative shifting of fingers, I got a good base progression down that I can now turn into a full song - and it all happened in about five minutes!
What can you do with Easy Power Chords? I'll bet there's tons of ideas you can explore - just pick one power chord to start with and mess around a little with it. Strum it, then pick each note individually. Try a different picking pattern of notes and see what pops out at you. Let your mind and creativity explore the notes.
Inside Easy Power Chords are a million songs just waiting to be found and captured by you. Rock it out!
Peace~
Dave
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