“Ultimate Rock Chord Primer For Guitar” Preview!

The following is a preview from my upcoming Ebook “The Ultimate Rock Chord Primer for Guitar.” If you are just getting started playing guitar, and want to rock out as soon as humanly possible, then you absolutely MUST learn these chord forms!

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Moveable chord forms, such as the ones we will be playing, often require the formation of a bar (or barre) with one of your fingers, usually the index finger. This can be challenging at first, especially if you haven’t yet built up the strength in your fingers. Because of this, many of the chords found here MAY seem difficult to play at first. Don’t worry! As with all other worthwhile endeavors, you will get much better with practice. Don’t give up! It might take days, weeks or even months to get good at it. It all depends on how much time you devote to it. Just remember not to OVER practice – if you feel any pain or discomfort – STOP! You don’t want to injure yourself!

We’ll start with a power chord with the root on the sixth string (low E). This is the absolute EASIEST of the chords to play. For starters, this form has only TWO notes – the root and a fifth. Don’t worry – you don’t even need to understand that to play the chord.

In this example, we’ll be playing a B5 chord. We’ll place our index finger of our fret hand at the seventh fret of the low E string – this is a B note, and is also the root note of this chord form. We’ll hold that note down, then play the F# note at the ninth fret of the fifth string (A string) with our ring finger:

Play both of the notes together. If you’re in tune, they should sound very good together. This is a very common rock chord. In fact, it is probably the MOST used chord in Rock! You could probably play a few hundred songs with this one form alone!

We can beef that chord up a bit by adding a third note. With your fingers still fretting the first two notes, take the pinky of your fretting hand and place it behind your ring finger and press down on the third string (D string) at the ninth fret. This is a B note:

Since we are already playing a B note as our root, repeating it here gives the chord a much more powerful sound. If the note sounds different to you, it is because it is an OCTAVE of the lower note. It is still a B note, but an octave higher than the one we played before.

If you are having trouble pressing that note down with your pinky, you can try the “double bar” approach. You do this by continuing to fret the root note with your index finger, but you bar the A and D strings at the fifth fret with your ring finger.

Some people find this form easier, some find it more difficult. Try both to see which is easier for you. I would recommend you try to get the pinky version down, because it will help you when you try to fret more difficult chord forms later.

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Let me know what you think of this lesson! I appreciate any feedback, good or bad!

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