How Do You Understand Rhythm Guitar Basics?
• Know that Power chords are going to be the meat and potatoes of your rhythm playing, and rightfully so. • They only use two or three strings, so they don’t turn into screeching gobs of mud when heavily distorted. • More importantly for our purposes, they are very easy to play, quick to learn, and easy to move around the fretboard. • Above all, they sound quite ‘rockin.’ For a demonstration, say the word ‘rockin’ out loud. They sound a lot better than that. • Realize that Power chords are technically not chords at all, they are 5ths. There’s a perfectly good reason for this, but you’ll probably gag if you hear what it is. • The part that matters is the fact that power chords aren’t major or minor, they are ‘indifferent.’ • This means that you can use a C power chord to back up either a C major or a C minor chord without worrying about any of that key nastiness (which we will get to, sadly enough). • Power chords tend to fit nicely into anything that has an edge to it. • Know that ther
