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Cool Rock Chordal Ideas

by Christopher Sung

Pages: 1 · 2 · 3

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Looking at Scott Witherell's post about taking the next step got me thinking about how rock players often use little fills and 3-note chords to embellish their standard open-string chords and power chords. In this lesson, we'll look at three examples of this type of playing.

This first one reminds me of "Funk #49" by the James Gang. Since we're playing funky, it's important to keep that strumming hand continually playing those "chucks" in between the held chords. You can make chucks by resting your fretting fingers on top of the strings such that no notes ring. The result is a nice percussive effect that keeps things chugging. Note how all the chords are essentially 3 notes. Also keep in mind that you can move your hand around to get in position for the next chord while you're playing the "chucks" in between...