Guitar Lessons - How to play all songs with one chord. (Powerchord, Rock Quints)

Pay attention to the fingering of the right hand. The thumb here should play two notes in one sliding motion. When these notes are not on adjacent strings, the thumb can play without support. If two notes are on adjacent strings, then naturally the thumb should play with support.

Analysis by bars

1st and 2nd measures

There is immediately a temptation to play the entire C chord and no longer think about where to place your fingers. At the beginning of the piece, this is permissible; if we play only the first chord, nothing bad will happen, because there are no transitions, and we are not limited by time, we can calmly put out all our fingers.

But our task is to develop the right habit, to teach the hand to “walk” along the fingerboard, so from the very beginning we point out our fingers as we move forward. First we place the third finger on the bass C. Play the first double note. After that, we put the second finger on E and immediately play. And after a note we put the last C. Thus, we installed the C chord in three stages. All the strings that were previously pressed do not release, this is an important point. We do not move from finger to finger, releasing the previous notes, but add new ones to the already pressed notes.

The next time you repeat the chord, there is no need to reinstall the fingers; they should remain in their places. There is no point in reinstalling them. I emphasize this because some students try to reset their fingers when repeating a chord.

Naturally, after we have placed all the fingers, they need to be held throughout the entire measure, until the very end.

When moving to the second measure, all fingers must be removed, because neither the E note nor the Do note is part of the next G chord. Between the C and G chords there is only one common note - Sol. That is, an open third string. Which will sound anyway if it is not accidentally drowned out, which should not be done.

Pay attention to the junction of the first and second measures. A common mistake beginners make is cutting off the last notes in a bar when changing position. The last note Do must be held and listened to until the last, it should smoothly transition into Sol. The sound should not be interrupted for a moment.

3rd and 4th measures

In the third bar, there are two open strings on the first eighth of the bar. There is no need to press anything. We just play two open strings. By this point, all the notes from the previous measure should have already been removed, since there are no common notes between the G and Am chords.

After the two open strings are played, you can put the second finger on E, play, then the third finger on A, play, and finally the first finger on Do. By the fourth eighth bar we will have completed the chord setting. And not before! We hold all pressed notes until the end of the bar.

When transitioning between bars 3 and 4, the E note on the fourth string, pressed with the second finger, should not be removed. It is part of the next chord Em. It turns out that E needs to be held on the fourth string for three measures. Why three? Yes, because the note E is also part of the C chord, which is played next after Em when repeating the exercise.

Friends, I have finally found one chord with which you can play all the songs. But seriously, today we will talk about the Powerchord or fifth chord. And it is designated as follows: G5.

Powerchord replaces any chord in rock songs or any other.

It is so universal because it lacks a third, that is, a third step.

Accordingly, it has only two notes: the tonic and the fifth degree. And it’s the third that gives the chord its character: it makes it major or minor. Since the Powerchord does not have a third, it sounds neutral and can replace any chord. Real rockers love it, as it sounds as strong and powerful as possible even at the highest overload on an electric guitar.

There are several options to take Powerchord:

E5 - on the second fret we pinch the fifth and fourth strings, and the sixth is open.

A5 - start with the fifth string, clamp the fourth and third on the second fret.

D5 - we clamp the third string on the second fret, and the second string on the third fret, the fourth string is open.

To use Powerchord in songs, you need to learn the placement of notes on the sixth and fifth strings of the guitar. The root of the Powerchord is where the first finger is.

Powerchord works great if you have the same chords in the chorus and verse, but want them to sound different.

Try, find new chords, experiment.

Lesson duration is about 50 minutes. Independent work 4 hours.
Guitar tuning is at the bottom of the page. Let me remind you of the names of the fingers: on the right hand - pulgar (large), index- (index), medio (middle), anular (nameless). On the left - 1, 2, 3, 4. Once again about the index: the Spanish indice sounds unusual in Russian, so I replaced it with the familiar Latin word. Let them judge me.
We played the apoyando striking exercises from the fifth lesson. They gave themselves a hand. Don't forget to alternate fingers. We checked the landing. We tightened our fingers a little, 5-7 mm. We played with the tirando strike, watching our hands. Don't forget about the working areas of your fingers. We play and read.

You don't learn when you read a lesson. You learn as you work yourself, forcing your fingers to learn what you have understood. Therefore, if you forgot to play something regularly from what was before, you have lost it. Review previous lessons from time to time. In a lesson or two, I will summarize all the exercises in the Main Warm-up, on everything that you should be able to do. There is no time to go further - play what was.

We continue to practice the tirando strike.
Objective of the lesson: add a dozen stamps to your piggy bank that you will use most often. Don't smile about the piggy bank - completely seriously. You see, the Opponent is silent. He even nodded. Treat these stamps the same way you treat the contents of your purse or wallet: spend and replenish. Moreover, they can be practiced without a guitar. With a normal attitude, completely memorizing each stamp takes 15-20 minutes. Let's say 4 times for 4 minutes. Loud, slow, clear, with a taste, like biting into a lightly salted cucumber. In the subway, for example. Each exercise is from station to station. So, the goal of this lesson is to start filling your guitar piggy bank.
As in the last lesson, the fingers are responsible for their strings:
Pulgar is responsible for the basses: 6th, 5th, 4th strings. Not right away, one by one. And slow down.
The index deals with the 3rd string,
Medio deals with the 2nd string,
The anular is occupied on the 1st string. Full order.

Now attention!

The finger pattern from the last lesson looked like this: p – i – m – a, p – i – m – a... Bass, third, second, first...
Let's change this pattern: bass, first, second, third, next bass, etc. That's all the wisdom.
What happened is this: p – a – m –i, p – a – m –i, and so on, the pulgar hits first the 6th, then the 5th, then the 4th. The notes look like this:

It looks scary, I agree, but in reality it’s light. By the way, one of Giuliani’s most famous sketches is based on this drawing.
Play slowly, clearly, take your time, these templates will last you for many years. Watch your hand.
You can tell that there are no note names underneath the sheet music example. These are the notes of open strings. It’s high time to know them, and they are at the bottom of the page. Previously, it was necessary to teach.

There will be many more patterns in this tutorial, but let's discuss one issue. The guitar has a rather difficult technique for the left hand, called barre. So, when you play patterns, the strings rattle. Let's place the index finger of our left hand across the strings, but we won't press. The finger is not bent, not crooked, not tense, it lies straight, flat, not sideways, across the strings, it protects your ears. Look at the pictures, it's pretty clear. Result? – And the strings don’t rattle, and the left hand gets used to the barre. Just don't press down on the strings, please, PLEASE, otherwise you'll pinch your left hand. On the contrary, having placed this imitation of barre on the strings, you need to relax your left hand, and you can even move all your fingers, except the thumb and forefinger, a little, demonstrating their freedom and readiness to work. They should be in lazy wait, low above the fretboard, so that they can rush into battle at the right moment.
Agreed?

Place the index finger of your left hand across the strings. Let's play. The strings sound dull, there is no ringing in my head. We continue to study stamps.

Let me put all the stamps on a table for you. You know the names of the fingers, you can already imagine the notes, you’ll figure it out. I'll give the sound. If so, you can listen. Just don’t forget, index is for the third, media for the second, anular for the first, pulgar for bass.
First come the templates that you have already completed.
Yes, one of the sounds in each stamp bar is louder than the others. You guessed it! The first one, of course. He's also a bass, by a strange coincidence.
I advise you to print this tablet and memorize it. On the road, watching TV, even on the go.

Here. We are doing a great job.

You may doubt your abilities, but we have already gone through three stamps, the rest - slowly and you won’t understand right away. This is your capital, your luggage, ready-made preparations for accompaniment. If you don't memorize everything, consider that you have robbed yourself. It’s like throwing a wad of banknotes (money, simply put) out of your wallet because the designs and inscriptions on them are complex. If you find one, you are lucky. How to use stamps is in the following lessons. After all, there are still cliches where the bass and string sound together. There will be an addition.

In short, learn it slowly and loudly, polish it until it shines, and only after that - for the next lesson.

Well, I forgot to say... In short, to memorize these drawings, you don’t even need a guitar. You bring your right hand to the belt on your trousers (on your trousers, not on other people’s, of course), with a pulgar on it from above, the rest from below. The hand is round, not twisted. And you work on the layout. Two subway rides - the exercise is polished. Practice won't hurt your hand or your pants. Just don’t twist your arm, your arm is still round and free. The main thing is the main thing. A smile...

One of those problems that every musician has faced. And most often, the cause of this problem is not defects or problems with the instrument at all: in 9 out of 10 cases, the owner of the instrument is simply inattentive when tuning it and does not know the main reasons for the occurrence of overtones. Needless to say, getting rid of annoying rattling and achieving a clear sound of the instrument in this case is not difficult - and our short guide about the main causes of ringing and clanging strings will help you with this.

What to do if the strings are ringing?

In most cases, a dull sound with minimal sustain and a clearly audible ringing does not appear along the entire length of the string, but only in certain positions. At the first symptoms of rattling, we recommend that you carefully understand its causes: do not forget that some of these reasons can lead to problems with the guitar if you do not pay attention to them for a long time. In particular, this concerns incorrect adjustment of the truss rod, which we will discuss below and which can lead to the neck “leading” and its profile being damaged.

Most often, ringing appears not only in a certain position on the fingerboard, but also on certain strings: in the vast majority of cases, rattling affects bass strings due to the presence of winding on them, greater weight and greater thickness of such strings.

The main causes of ringing may be problems technical level and adjustment problems. With the latter, everything is clear: here the features of adjusting the position of the bridge and how high the strings are located from the neck can play a role, and a large percentage of cases are associated with incorrect adjustment of the neck anchor. Technical problems are less common, but they also create more problems for the owner of the instrument: due to poor quality assembly, due to the use of cheap materials on some guitars, individual elements of the bridge, nut, frets and even the soundboard of the instrument can become deformed, which inevitably leads to discomfort. and unnecessary sounds when playing.

Read this material to the end - and you will learn to understand the causes of string rattling and get rid of it in a matter of minutes.

Stage No. 1: determine what caused the ringing of the strings

So, just above we have already made it clear to you that there can be many reasons for the appearance of overtones - especially if we are talking about an inexpensive instrument. Before drawing a conclusion about the root cause of the ringing, you need to check each string in all positions. As we study, we write down or remember in what positions each of the strings rattles.

The strings ring at the first or third fret (i.e., rattling is observed mainly in the initial positions)

In this situation, the most likely cause is incorrect alignment of the anchor or problems with the frets. As for the profile of the neck, you should make sure that there is a slight deflection in it, i.e. the neck is slightly concave. Most often, rattling at the 1-3 frets appears due to the fact that the guitarist strives to make the neck profile perfectly flat or mistakenly achieves a curved neck: in this case, the string clamped on the first frets will cling to the 5-7 and higher frets.

The second option is wear of the frets themselves. If you often play in lower positions (closer to the nut), then the fret baffles on them will wear out much faster - accordingly, when the string is clamped, its seating will become lower and lower over time. If the plates on higher frets are not worn out so much, then sooner or later the string will begin to cling to them and we will get an annoying ringing.

Another problem that can cause ringing in the initial positions is a worn and ground nut, which also causes the strings to sit lower and similarly can catch higher frets.

Solution:

• Check the deflection of the neck, if necessary, loosen the truss rod to obtain a slight natural deflection (ideal value is ~1.5-3 mm for the first string around the 7th fret when the string is clamped at the 1st and 14th frets). If you have never done this, then it is better to entrust this work to a guitar master;
• Check the fret plates in their initial positions: if they are worn, then consult a guitar luthier and break the frets - this procedure, oddly enough, is not as time-consuming and financially expensive as many musicians imagine;
• Check to see if the cuts in the top sill are worn out;
• If the tool is new, take it back to the store and consult with the seller, as this may be a banal manufacturing defect.

Strings ring at high positions (~12th fret and above)

Most novice guitarists may not notice this problem, since they learn to play mainly on the first frets; many ignore this situation, considering it only a minor deviation from the norm. Of course, a slight ringing that does not affect the sustain and frequency characteristics of the sound is not a problem, but rattling that causes discomfort to the musician can also indicate serious problems with the instrument.

However, in this case, most likely the reason lies in the small gap between the string and the 12th fret, i.e. the strings are set too close to the fretboard. This problem generally only applies to acoustic, as well as electric and bass guitars.

Solution:

• We start by checking the profile of the neck: recall that it should have a slight deflection of about 1.5-3 mm at the most concave point (approximately around the 7th fret, we check by clamping the first string at the 1st and 14th fret);
• We adjust the string height: on electric and bass guitars by adjusting the height of the bridge saddles or tremolo system, the seat height of the bridge itself, on an acoustic guitar by adjusting the truss rod.

How to set up the truss rod: take the hex wrench that usually comes with the guitar; keys can also be purchased separately on our website in the “Keys for Guitar” section.

ATTENTION! Make no more than a third of a turn of the rod at a time, then leave the guitar to “rest” for 15-20 minutes. After the break, check the height of the strings, the deflection of the neck, be sure to make sure there is no ringing and evaluate the comfort of this neck setup. Repeat the procedure if necessary.

Open, unclamped strings ring

A less common, but no less frustrating problem for musicians is ringing on open strings with a corresponding deterioration in the sustain and frequency characteristics of the instrument's sound. In this case, there may be several reasons: a catastrophically incorrect deflection of the neck, which needs to be urgently corrected, severe wear of the nut, the wrong choice of “string gauge,” as well as the notorious defect if the instrument is completely new.

• Make sure the neck does not have a convex profile and the truss rod is not too tight. If this is the problem, then immediately loosen the rod, following the recommendations from the previous paragraph of our article;
• Check the nut: if the reason for the ringing of the open strings is that the cuts are worn out, then buy a new threshold and give it to a guitar maker for installation;
• Make sure you choose the correct string thickness in relation to the tuning of your instrument and its overall features. You can find out about the recommended thickness for each of the popular tunings in our article.
• If the tool is new, take it back to the store and consult with the seller, as this may be a manufacturing defect.

Guitar peg rattles

This problem is especially relevant for budget instruments and, in general, is most often encountered when playing acoustic instruments. The unpleasant rattling of the peg is almost inaudible on recording and when miking the instrument, but it greatly disturbs the musician himself and significantly reduces the pleasure of playing.

• We pluck the open strings with our right hand;
• While the strings are sounding, we touch each of the pegs in turn - this way we will identify the culprit of the rattling;
• Next, either tighten the peg yourself, which no longer “sits” so tightly in the groove, or entrust this work to a master. As a last resort, replace the tuning mechanics. Obviously, the best solution would be to replace not just one of the pegs (of course, if we are not talking about replacing with an absolutely identical peg), but to buy a whole one at once set of guitar pegs.

Guitar body rattles

A fairly rare problem that can result in the instrument becoming completely unusable. First, “knock” the deck at the first suspicion that it is the deck that is rattling. To do this, you don’t need to make the strings sound - just lightly tap your hand on the body of the guitar: the appearance of additional overtones will mean that the problem lies precisely in the body.

Solution:

• Don’t delay going to a specialist and don’t try to tune it yourself: a rattling sound on the deck may indicate a violation of the integrity of the housing structure. If you do not glue the top or rail in time, the instrument may become completely unusable.

conclusions

So, we have looked at the main reasons for the appearance of ringing and annoying rattling of guitar strings. What Guitarists Should Remember:

• Distinguish negative ringing, which “kills” the sound of the string and sustain, from simple clanging, which appears due to a strong attack. To better understand the difference, compare the sound of your guitar to the slapping technique popular among bass players. Note that the sound of each note when playing slap is dense and full in frequency response, the sustain is not reduced as much as in the case of ringing on adjacent fret plates;
• In most cases, ringing appears due to incorrect adjustment of the deflection of the neck and the height of the strings: start looking for the reasons in this area;
• If ringing of the strings is observed on a new instrument for no apparent reason (there are no noticeable defects, the height of the strings and the deflection of the neck are adjusted, all elements of the guitar are new and not worn), hurry up to contact the seller and get advice from him.