Power Chords

[jmaibauer]

Hello,
I am trying to learn power chords and was just wondering if anyone knew of any easy songs to practice that use simple power chords?

[Whiskey]

Smells Like Teen Spirit is demonstrated by David in a Video Lesson here on NLG. He does both a power chord version and an alternate version. You could also try the first (to my knowledge) song build completly around power chords - You Really Got Me by The Kinks.

Cheers!

[ES335]

you really got me by the kinks is a good power chord drill. start out going between the G and F, then B and A. those are played on stings 6 and 5 on the 3rd, 5th and 7th frets in like an "E" or "F" position finger pattern. then drop to what i call an "A" position finger pattern and slide between the E and D power chords on the 7th and 5th frets using strings 5 and 4. thats the main riff. then you hit the E (full chord) quickly followed by the D (full chord) letting the D ring for a bit. then repeat. the quick change required for that song is challenging but will develop your use of the power chord a lot in my opinion. if your not sure about the timing/changes on each position let me know and i will try and clarify that. but if you are real familiar with the tune you will probably figure that part out. (i actually use the full barre chord fingering on all those chords but really just hit the top two or three notes). (alsoooo...on the recording the song is not done in the key i mentioned above, it is done in like an F or F sharp or something, but not many people play it in that key so for an exercise what i list will work just fine). WOW! i just noticed Whiskey's comment above. brilliant minds think alike...i guess. LOL.

[Whiskey]

Heh heh. Too True. :cool:
I guess I forgot to list Dave Davies as one of my big influences in the 'Legends' thread.

[ES335]

Heh heh. Too True. :cool:
I guess I forgot to list Dave Davies as one of my big influences in the 'Legends' thread.

same here.

[Paranoid]

I practice a lot of power chords in Black Sabbath songs like NIB and Ironman.

[Jstickley]

a couple other songs which totally use power chords, in just 4 positions are

Greenday "when i come around"
and
Bush "Glycerine"

Ironically, they both use the EXACT same chords, in the EXACT same position, in the EXACT same time lol. Its the strumming and muting which changes the two songs.

Enjoy

Jesse

[Guitar2Masta101]

A good song to practice timing/power chords with is Brain Stew by Green Day, but you wont find it on nextlevelguitar so try youtube the power chords are Ax2 Gx2 F#x2 (or flat) Fx2 Ex2 .

[Rock Monster]

A couple that i found pretty easy and a good warm up for me when i was just starting to play guitar were What's My Age Again? by Blink-182 (just the chorus, the intro is tricky and hard to really nail) and Holiday by Greenday (I didn't really care about the rest of this song, i just wanted to learn the intro. Try it, it sounds pretty cool and all you're doing is sliding your hand up and down the fretboard in the same position.) Hope that helps.

[FenderBender]

Try Clapton's "Cocaine". The rhytm pattern/riff is fairly simple - and once you've got that down, there is still plenty of room to enhance it by the finger playing parts...

[Bounty]

There are so many rifs that are just power chords. Smoke on the water is one that is to easy and everybody will know exactly what your playing right away. The nice thing about it is you really don't hear people playing it. So when in a music store or with your friends it will work out for ya. At least in my experience.