Resources > Lessons 4

Lesson 4

Set your amp to overdrive because it's time to learn some rock style chords (power chords) and a technique used all the time in heavy metal music known as palm muting.

Power Chords

A chord is a collection of notes from a scale played simultaneously. A power chord uses a root note plus the 5th note from the scale so an A power chord is written as A5 an E powerchord is E5 and so on.

Tip - Try this alternative A5 power chord fingering.

Tip - Try this alternative E5 power chord fingering.

Tip - The G5 chord requires you to mute the A string with the underside of your 1st finger.

Tip - Try this alternative D5 power chord fingering.

Tip - Remember power chords require an overdriven tone from your amp.

Palm Muting

Soundfile Download

Note - Palm muting is often abbreviated to P.M.

Tip - Just like power chords, a heavy metal tone is required from your amp for palm muting.

The riff below uses the 4 power chords from this lesson and the palm muting technique.

Setting Up Your Guitar and Amp

These are the Marshall Rock-Kit guitar and amp settings used by us for the sound file recordings that accompany this lesson.