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Thursday, February 3, 2011

Rock Guitar Lesson - Chords & Scales You Need To Know

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.

In rock guitar the most common scales used for soloing are the minor pentatonic, major pentatonic and blues scales. 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.

The 5 chord or power chord is simply the root and the perfect fifth and can be played just using these two notes. This chord is used extensively in hard rock, rock, punk and metal. 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 as well. As most chords are constructed using a root and fifth, it is important to know how to use power chords as they are a stepping stone to learning more complex ones.

Rock guitar uses the minor and major chords, in the form of triads, extensively. If we take a 5 chord and add a flat 3rd, we create a minor chord. By adding a major 3rd we create a major chord. It is common in rock guitar to use these chords in the open position on the fretboard, but they can be played on any part of the fretboard with a little practice.

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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