Easy Power Chords E5 and A5

Hi guys, my name's Andy Crawley, and welcome to the first lesson in this 10 lesson electric guitar starter course where we're primarily just looking at rock guitar really. This course includes everything you need to know including how to play a few easy riffs and open chords all the way up to learning power chords and. Even the first scale that you should know to be able to play awesome rock riffs and solos on electric guitar. Every video in this series has a play along track that goes with it. Each track has been specially composed by me to teach you guys a certain skill, such as how to do parmuting and get this sort of sound, for example. If you want to be able to get these kind of rock guitar sounds, this is the place to be, so let's get straight in for a close-up now and check out our first easy power chords and our easy riff. OK guys, so in this video you are going to be learning how to play an E5 power chord, an A5 power chord. We're going to be learning a simplified version of I Love Rock and Roll, the er song and riff by Joan Jetton and the Blackhearts. And er then we're going to be playing along to a backing track that is gonna provide drums and. This to this riff, so I'm gonna show you in this video how to play along to this backing track, um, that I've created myself, and you can download this backing track yourself, um, by clicking the link that's in the description. All the info on how to do that is on the website. This is the little, uh, version of that riff that we're going to be learning, a very simplified version and a slowed down version so that everyone can follow this riff. That is essentially what we're gonna be learning. There is an even easier version if you know you get stuck or if playing along to the track, this is a bit too much for you. But what we need to do, it's all done with our first finger for the vast majority. And we're gonna place our first finger at the 2nd fret of the 5th string. So we number our strings 1 to 6 and uh this is string 5, fret 1, fret 2. But we want to lay it here but we're going to be a little bit flatter than you would do for standard open chords for example. We want to lay it like this uh so flatter like this so that we're also hitting the string. Underneath, um, ideally we want to hit the thicker 3 strings with our pick, and you will need to use a pick for this to get the sound, the aggressive sound, uh, for which is synonymous with rock guitar. That I'm getting here. So we use the pick to play the thicker 3 strings which for me are are wound when they will be on most electric guitars. All this stuff will work on acoustic, you just won't get this sound and this is primarily designed, uh, well 100% for electric guitarists. OK, so that's what we're going for. We strum twice, flat first finger kind of like this. So it's not touching the thinner strings here. um, but we do have a slight kink in our finger here to be ideal. That is the E5 power cord. Strum twice, so a small strum of the thicker 3 strings and then we rest the outside of the palm of our hand. Let me take this off so you can see. Uh, the outside of the palm of your hand just here. On the uh on all six strings so that we get absolute silence because when we have this amount of overdrive it does tend to get a little unruly, it'll start making weird buzzing sounds if we don't silence it like this. And we need to do that twice. So strum, strum, mute, strum, strum, mute. Let's do that together now, so first finger here and in 2. 34, strum, strum, mute, strum, strum, mute, OK? Now when you've done that 2nd 2 strums, so. Here we're going to add the middle finger at 3rd fret of the thickest Estring and play just that one string. Now to hit just one string and to for most of these power chords, it's ideal really to rest your arm or your forearm on the guitar itself and just pivot from your wrist. Like this, I'm not taking a big swing at this, we're not really strumming. It's a little bit more. Than a single string pick, but it's more a picking technique. Than uh than we're going for here. So that's the extra bit that we're gonna add, but the easiest version of this riff, we're then going to have an A5 power cord which is the same as the E. So this uses the E string and the next string down. We move your first finger down a string and we play an A power chord but only strum or pick string 54, and 3. So we're not gonna play the thickest string, string 6. Don't play that one. And the uh first string you're hitting is the E note, so E A. And this makes this an A 5 power cord or just an ear power cord. And we're going to do the same two strums. Strum strum and a mute as we did before. So the super basic super super basic version of this riff, which you can play along to this backing track too, goes like this. And we're going to be repeating that to the track. So even if you have absolutely no kind of finger dexterity and you're a total beginner, this is the first time you've ever held your brand new electric guitar or secondhand electric guitar. Uh, this is ideal cos you can play along straight away and make some noise. So that is the first sort of level. Of this riff Let's have a go at that one together and then we're gonna add. The cool passing note as it were. So from an E power chord play along to me really slow and then we'll go along to the track. In 234. And the air power cord there. Back to E. Eh? One last time. Hey And that's all we're gonna go for for now, OK? So we're gonna try and play that along to the track. If you couldn't do that, just pause this video or rewind back and have another go and try and make sure that you're only hitting. The thicker 3 strings and that we're getting a good amount of silence here by gently pressing down on the strings in between. Each pair of sounds and make sure your amplifier or amp simulator is sounding like this by having the right amount of overdrive on it, which will vary per amplifier. Great stuff, let's have a little listen to this track before we add in the extra bit. So the track here has a counting of 121234. Let's have a listen. 1. 2 123, and then we have bass and drums. And this is where we play. BNA power chords over. unique. News. It. Now to really make sure that we're not hitting that thickest Estring when we play the A5, you can sit your thumb on top if you wish, but with the Echord it has to move. Like that. Let's have a go at doing this together to the track, and this, as I say, is the most basic way to play along to this track, and I'll show you the full way in 1 2nd. Let's play along together in 1. 2 12. Oh And the air Back to E. Repeat. And we'll pause there, so stop playing now. So hopefully that was something that you could play along to and it sounded like mine did there at home. How can we tell whether we're playing in time or not though? Well we have this sound from the bass and we have these uh strong short hit points from the drums. And you have to make sure that what you're doing happens at the same time as. Those drums and uh that we don't kind of get two sounds. So let me show you what I mean. Let's play this one more time and I just want you to listen this time. I'm going to play it in time and then purposely out of time to show you the difference. So 34, strum, strum, mute. So that is happening at the same time. But Boom boom, that's the best that you can hear. And those hits from the drums, now if I play it a little bit before. You can hear my guitar and then you hear the bass, or you hear the drums and everything kind of sounds like if this is them in line, they're all a little bit out. One happens and then something else happens. OK, so in time. And out of time, maybe a little bit late. Now that, as I say, when I was out of time, I heard the bass and then played and that isn't good enough basically to be able to play along to something. It's great to be able to just play this on its own, for many of you that will be, you know, a real pat on the back and a real moment. But what we really want from this lesson is to. Play in time with that track so everything has to happen at exactly the same time. And this is perfect for it cos we have a strong strum and a strong mute. Now let's add that extra little bit in for those of you that are able to kind of add this in. So we're going to strum E5. E5 again and adds this middle finger straight away, no pause after the second two strums. Let me show you again. Straight away. And then the A5. Now this requires more pick dexterity and for that middle finger to be very coordinated and get to where it needs to be. So let's just have a little play along together and then we'll have a go at the track. Play along from E5 in 234. A 5 note. Note A note. So cho. Power chord single note. So that does make it a little bit more technical, but with a bit of practise. Hopefully this is something you will be able to do. Uh, let me show you how to play that along to the backing track and then we'll leave it there for this first lesson. Let's have a listen. So we're here one. 2 125. Middle finger there. And let's pause there. We're halfway through the backing track then, remember you can download this backing track and download this video from the website, links in the description if you want to kind of have quite a few attempts at this and uh not need the video, not have me pausing the song all the time basically. But now we're going to go for the full thing. So we're gonna play along to the entire backing track, which is just a little over a minute, and you have a choice. The important thing is to be able to play in time. If we don't play in time with the track then nothing that we do is is correct. Basically, it's er one of one of the facts of kind of music, it has to be in time for it to be correct when we're playing along to something, which is the thing I'm adding with this entire course. Every video has a backing track that comes with it. So for this one, you have a choice, you can go for the easier version. Or the slightly harder version where we add the middle finger in. OK, I'm going to be playing the harder version because I want you guys to aim for that, but if you're just playing the E5 and the A5 power chord, that is totally fine. Let's play it along together for the final time in. 2 Why 234. Halfway, keep it going. A couple more. And let the last earring out. Yeah, sounds like a rock song, right? Hopefully that was something that you guys were able to do and I hope that will help you to play rock guitar.