Rock Up Your Guitar Rhythm Ability With Guitar Chord Progressions!Why guitar chord progressions? Guitar chord progressions are the basic building blocks of rhythm guitar. The 1-4-5 progression is the root of most classic rock songs, rhythm and blues, and even country-western songs. Do you want to learn rhythm and lead or both? Do you know any chords like A, G, D, E, etc? G Chord: Strings EADGBE ------ 1st fret (F) 1=index finger EADGBE ----1- 1st fret (F) D Chord: EADGBE ------ 1st fret (F) E Chord: EADGBE ---1-- 1st fret (F) A Chord: EADGBE ------ 1st fret (F) F Chord: EADGBE ----11 1st fret (F) Em Chord: EADGBE ------ 1st fret (F) Am Chord: EADGBE ----1- 1st fret (F) Here then is a sample of "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" by Peter, Paul and Mary... G Em C
D
>Chorus< C D
G
Em C
G
D A lot of rock (and country-western) chord progressions follow what is called a 1-4-5 chord progression. These numbers stand for compatible notes (and/or chords) within an octave scale. Okay, enough theory. I'm not an expert on musical theory anyway, but here's what you can do to get started on some basic chord progressions. The three most popular guitar chord progressions are A-D-E, E-A-B, and G-C-D. Here's how the A-D-E chord progression goes (this is for rhythm and each A (or letter chord) is four strums or two up and down strums, or a 4/4 measure): A - A - A - A This completes the cycle and then starts over again. You have just learned your first chord progression! Yay! This particular chord progression sounds like "Peggy Sue", an oldie goldie. There's usually a chorus after two or more progressions, but we can work on that later. You'll have to work on the timing and rhythm of your strumming and chord changes, but it's really simple after you practice and get the hang of it. You might have to strum an open chord a couple of times between chord changes to get it to sound better. An open chord is playing all six strings on the guitar open with your right hand while the left hand is changing to the next chord. This is what I call an "inadvertent chord" on the way to the next chord being played. I strum up and down so work on that and see if you can get a "sense" of rhythm. You can play slow or fast depending on what you want to do and how well you can change chords. There are many variations of this progression, but a lot of bands use it in classic rock, rhythm and blues, and country-western music. Here is the same progression in a different key and chord pattern. E - E - E - E And the same progression again with different chords..."Let's go do the hop!" follows this pattern as well. G - G - G - G If you know guitar scales, you can play lead to the rhythm if you know what key the guitar chord progression is in. Or pick the notes that sound right. Practice makes perfect. :-) Here is the chord progression for C: C - C - C - C Here is the chord progression for "House Of The Rising Sun" by the Animals circa 1964. This was the second song I ever learned - the first one being "Proud Mary" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Am - C - D - F - Am - C - E I will come up with other guitar chord progressions when my memory allows. Until then... Rock on and have fun! |