Rhythm Scales. Root note

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2 Rhythm Scales To begin we need to first take a look at what a power chord is. From there we will begin organizing these power chords into keys. Let s get started! What is a power chord? I m sure you have heard this term mentioned many times before. Have you ever heard the term fifth chord mentioned? Most likely you have and if you haven t you have at least seen chords marked in tabs as say D5, A5, G5 etc Power chords and fifth chords are actually the same exact thing. Constructing a power chord using the minor scale This diagram below shows how the fifth chord is constructed using the natural minor scale. We begin on the root note, count up five notes in the scale and magic, we have a fifth chord also known as the power chord! Fifth interval Root note Moving up the scale five tones as we just did forms a fifth interval which gives the chord its name Fifth chord. So as you see the fifth chord and the power chord both form the same shape. Let s now take the major scale and create a fifth chord from that.

3 Constructing a power chord using the major scale Let s now take a look at a major scale and form a fifth chord within. Same routine; start on the root and count up five tones. Fifth interval Root note As you can see the fifth chord fits nicely within the major scale also. So what all this means is that you can play fifth chords when playing in both major and minor keys. So when talking about fifth chords know that it just describes the chords intervalic qualities. Many, including myself, use both the words power chords and fifth chords interchangably. As long as you know they are both the same thing it doesn t matter which term you use. So now you know what a fifth chord is! Any time you see a C5 or an F#5 you ll know what to play. Lets now move onto the next lesson! Open string power chords Next we ll talk about open string power chords. At first glance they may look a little different than the fifth chords you have already learned but as we ll learn later they actually form the same shape.

4 Open string power chords continued In the previous diagram you ll notice that our root note is the open string and the second note, the fifth interval, is on the next string down. So we fret this one note along with the open string above it which is our root. E5: You fret the A string second fret plus the open E string above it. A5: You fret the D string second fret plus the open A string above it. D5: You fret the G string second fret plus the open D string above it. Only play these two notes. Do not play the other strings marked with and X! Formation of the open string power chords As was mentioned earlier, our open power chords and the fretted power chord shapes we are all so used to seeing are actually the same exact shape. Take a look! So we are going to start out with the power chord, G5, located at the fifth fret and move down the neck until we reach the open chord. One more fret down and we ll be at our open string power chord!

5 Formation of the open string power chords continued Here you go, your open string power chord! Hopefully it s now pretty clear to see how this open power chord forms the same shape as our fretted power chord. Now that we know what the fifth chords look like and why they are named in this way it s time to take our low E string and learn all of our fifth chords rooted on this string. Power chords on the E string This lesson is pretty strait forward. We are simply going to be playing the power chords up and then back down the neck. The only real thing we have to remember is that there are whole steps between every set of notes except for what two sets of notes? If you answered between B-C and E-F then you would be correct! Here are the fifth chords tabbed out for you:

6 Power chords on the E string continued Now let s move back down the neck! Practice running these chords up and then back down the neck several times and make sure you name the chords as you run through them! Finally experiment! Take these chords and create some progressions out of them. It s great to be able to run up and down the neck with these chords but you need to actually apply them and make them musical. Power chords on A Let's now take a look at the power chords on the A string! You have already seen all of these notes in the previous lesson. Now it s just a matter of committing them to memory while also adding in a couple more. As you can see in the diagram below we start on C and end on C. This is your C major scale! You may have also noticed there are a couple unmarked dots located before the beginning of our scale. They are the open A and the B notes. We ve added them below!

7 Power chords on the A; up the neck So here are the 5 th chords on the A string. Go up the order of chords on the neck and back down to the open A5 chord again. Check it out! Mixing things up! Now were going to mix together both our chords on the E and the chords on the A. Check out the diagram below to see what I m talking about! As you can see all the chords on our A string are located directly below the chords on our E string except for when we hit the F s. When we play an F on the E string we need to go over one fret and down to the next string to hit the matching chord on the A string. Otherwise all the rest go straight down! Don t forget to experiment and create some jams using these chords. You always want to apply what you learn and make it musical!

8 The Power of Three In this lesson we are going to take a look at an easy way to break up our fretboard into three sections. This will help tremendously when playing both power chords or full bar chords. To begin with though let s begin by taking a look at what I call the Root Group As you can see in the diagram below we have our located on the low E string. It s also located on the D string but the root on the low E string gives this group its name. Now take this Root Group and move it around the neck! Above we were in the key of C major and below we were in the key of A major. Again the name of key is determined by where the root is located on the low E string. Take this group and move it all around the neck. Also play them as power chords and jam on them. Below is what it looks like it open position!

9 Minor group Once you have the Root Group down, can play it anywhere on the neck and can freely jam on power chords with it we next need to move onto what I call the Minor Group. Notice that the last notes at the end of this Minor Group is also the beginning notes of the Root Group. These two patterns overlap. Now the reason we call this the Minor Group is because this rhythm scale actually starts on the minor root note. In this pattern both the major and minor roots are located on the low E. Don t let yourself get caught up in the whys right now. We will go over this in more detail later. So let s go back to using our note C as our root again.

10 Minor group continued Next, as we did with the last pattern, you ll want to move this around neck. Let s take a look at that! In the previous diagram out root was on the C which put us in the key of C major. In the above diagram we are now in the key of A major. The root note is now on the A note. Let s try another one! Were now in the key of D major because our new root is located on the D note! Now take this pattern and move it all around the neck as you did with the previous pattern. Don t forget to jam on this pattern also! Lydian group Here is our final group which we call the Lydian group. This is actually something we call a mode. This is a much more complex subject which we will go over in another lessons so now just think of Lydian simply as a name for this group period. Let s take a look at it!

11 Lydian group continued In this group the root not is not located on the low E string. It s actually located on the A string. Now on good way to easily figure out where the root in the group is located is to use what I call the root block. Not root group but root block. These are two completely different things! Root Block The root block consist of two half steps stacked on top of each other. In the diagram the root is located on the lower right hand side of the block. When looking at it while playing your guitar it will be located on the upper right hand side of the block, the side towards your guitar body. Grab your guitar now and check it out. Now before moving on you may have noticed the open E,A and D notes. I included these because when in this position you ll very often use these three open power chords. These open notes are actually the ending of the root group. Remember how the notes at the 12 th fret are the same as the open notes? Check out the diagram on the next page!

12 Open notes and notes at the 12 th fret Since these notes lay on the 12 fret you can also play them as open notes. In our case we want to make these into power chords. If ever you are confuses as to whether or not you can play open chords in a particular key, just simply go to a group located around the 12 fret and see if any of the notes in the group are located at the 12 th fret. If they do then you can play those as open power chords. If not then you can t! Well you could but they would no longer be in key. Moving the Lydian group around the neck As with the other two groups we need to be able to move this group around the neck into different keys. Let s begin by reviewing the group again. Here is the Lydian group in the key of C! Remember that the Root Group is the stacked half steps and the root is located in the upper right hand side of the group (Players view). Let s now move it into a different key!

13 Moving the Lydian group around the neck continued So we moved this group to a different location on the neck. We are now in what key? Yes, it would be the key of E because our root is located at the E note on the A string. Now make sure you do not confuse the first note you would play in this pattern, the A note, being the root. In the Lydian group your root is located on the A string within the root block! Let s try another key! What key are we in? Remember to use the Root Block to help you figure out what root it is! Notice I didn t include the R in the diagram. I want you to figure out what it is yourself!

14 Moving the Lydian group around the neck continued Ok, so hopefully you were able to figure out what key we were playing in! If you said the key of Db or the key of C# then you would be correct. This is again because the root is always located in the upper right hand side of the root block! Let s try one more! What key are we in? If you said the key of F then you would be correct!