Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath are a rock band from England. The band was formed in 1968, and the starting lineup was: Ozzy Osbourne (lead vocal), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass guitar) and Bill Ward (drums). Their first name was Earth, and they played some kind of heavy blues-rock. Soon the change name in Black Sabbath, and focus their song themes on occult, satanism and horror, but also some social and political issues.
The band's characteristic sound was a result of an accident Tony had when he was 17. He lost the tips of the middle and right finger of his right hand, so he had to tune down his guitar, for easier playing.
During the band's long history, several lineup changes were made, and Tony was the only member who stayed in the band for the whole time. When Ozzy was kicked from the band because of drinking problems in 1979, Ronnie James Dio (from Rainbow) had replaced him.
In the following years, famous vocals like Ian Gillan, Tony Martin, Ray Gillen and Glenn Hughes were singing in the band.
The band's greatest album was Paranoid, which defined heavy metal.

Chuck Berry

Many people says that Chuck Berry is the father of Rock&Roll.
Chuck had great performance on stage, thanks to his famous "duck walk", that became his trademark. Chuck performed first "duck walk" in New York, in 1956. He says he did that to hide the wrinkles in his rayon suit. He recalls: "It got an ovation, so I did it again and again".

Famous "duck walk" performed by Chuck Berry. Later, Angus Young, guitarist of AC/DC used it in his performances.

In December 1959 following an appearance in El Paso, Chuck and band visited nearby Juarez, Mexico. There he invited a 14 years old Apache waitress Janice Escalanti to work as a hat chech girl at his nightclub, Berry's Club Bandstand in St. Louis. According to Berry, when he refused her advances she left in a fit of anger. On December 21, Janice was arrested for prostitution at local hotel. Because of this, Berry was charged with violation of the Mann Act. This federal statue forbid the transporting a person across state lines for the purpose of prostitution. Berry was convicted to five years in prison and fined $5,000. An appeal was made based on racial comments made by the presiding judge and a new trial began in October, 1961. Most of the original verdict was upheld and Berry received 3 years at the Indiana Federal Prison and fined $10,000. Two months later he was transferred to Leavenworth Federal Prison in Kansas. He completed his sentence at the Federal Medical Center in Springfield, Missouri and was released on his birthday October 18, 1963. Chuck Berry was never the same person again. He felt he had been betrayed.

Angus Young --AC/DC

Most rock worshipers will agree that Angus Young, guitarist of famous AC/DC band, is one of the most energetic performers ever. He and his wild acrobatics on stage became trademark of AC/DC, and you can't imagine this band without them. In addition to his crazy stage persona, he is one of the best rock guitarists of rock history.

Angus is born on March 31, 1955 in Glasgow, town in Scotland. Young and family moved to Australia in the '60s. Older brother of Angus, George, become famous in Easybeats, inspiring his younger brothers, Angus and Malcolm to begin learning guitar. Angus became fascinated by Chuck Berry, who influenced his playing style.

Gibson SG played by Angus

Angus and Malcolm formed first band in the early '70s, naming it AC/DC. Because band rehearsals were right after school, Angus often practiced in his school uniform. This look became such a hit so Angus decided to wear it on stage. He also began playing a Gibson SG, and that was the only guitar model that he played through his entire career. The Young brothers haven't been influenced by popular musical trends of the '70s (progressive rock, disco...), and played raw and simple three-chord rock. When singer Bon Scott arrived in the band, AC/DC became a worldwide sensation.

With massive worldwide success, AC/DC overcame a tragedy in 1980, when Bon Scott died from unknown reasons. Pretty soon, a replacement, Brian Johnson was in the band. Shortly after, AC/DC issued their biggest hit in the career: Back in Black.

Barre chords

Barre chords are the top of the mountain in beginner's guitar playing. When you master these, then you are ready for some really advanced techniques.

So, what's the difference between open chords and barre chords?
When making barre chord, you need to press entire fret with your index finger. It seems easy, but try it - you won't make it first time. Nor second time. Even 50th time. It takes most practice. But it's worth of it.

So, how do these chords look like?
Let me show you the F chord. It looks like this:
e|---------1----------------------|
B|---------1----------------------|
G|---------2----------------------|
D|---------3----------------------|
A|---------3----------------------|
E|---------1----------------------|

This seems pretty weird, right? Now, put your finger 3 on the 3rd fret of the 5th string, finger 4 on the 4th string, finger 2 on the 3rd and with your index finger (finger 1) fret strings 1,2 and 6. Put your finger over entire first fret and try to fret them. This requires lots of practice. So try it over and over again. By learning the F barre, you basically learned 12 new chords. This is because you just need to move your current finger formation one fret lower, and you gonna get a new chord.

I won't show barre chords here now, because there are many of them, and it's hard to pick important and most used ones.

Open chords

After learning tabs and riffs, it's time to get to the more serious work, learning chords. There are two main types of chords: open chords and barre chords. Open chords are pretty easier, because when playing barre, you need to press one entire fret with your index finger. But it all takes practice, and isn't very hard.

Open chords are very good and logical choice for the guitar beginner. Most of these are pretty easy. First chords you should learn are E, Em, A, Am, C and G. With these chords learned, you will be able to play many songs you know. You first need to learn to switch fast between the chords, until you are comfortable with that. Then, when you practiced enough, you can learn some simple songs, like Knocking on the Heavens doors. After that, learn barre chords, and the rest depends on practice, practice, and more practice.
Teaching your fingers to remember chords position is the hardest part of guitar learning. When you teach that, you can start more interesting part of guitar playing - learning songs. On this site, you will later find plenty of material. Especially if you like rock and metal...
Now, here are the tabs for open chords:

- E chord

e|-------------------------------|
B|------------------------------|
G|---------1---------------------|
D|---------2--------------------|
A|---------2--------------------|
E|------------------------------|

So, you fret second frets of 5th and 6th strings, and first fret of 4th string. For this, use first 3 fingers, no matter in what order, because many players use different positions. Use the way you feel most comfortable.


- Em chord
e|-------------------------------|
B|------------------------------|
G|------------------------------|
D|---------2---------------------|
A|---------2--------------------|
E|------------------------------|

The Em chord is almost the same like E chord, but here you fret only 5th and 6th strings. Same rules for fingers like in E chord.


-A chord
e|------------------------------|
B|----------2-------------------|
G|----------2-------------------|
D|----------2-------------------|
A|------------------------------|
E|------------------------------|

Here, fret 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings like in the tab above. Use finger 1 for 4th string, finger 2 for 3rd, and finger 3 for 2nd string.

-Am chord
e|-------------------------------|
B|---------1--------------------|
G|---------2--------------------|
D|---------2--------------------|
A|------------------------------|
E|------------------------------|

Use finger 1 for 2nd string, finger 3 for 3rd string and finger 2 for 4th string.


-C chord
e|-------------------------------|
B|------------------------------|
G|-------1-----------------------|
D|-------0-----------------------|
A|-------2-----------------------|
E|-------3-----------------------|

Use 3rd finger for 6th string, 2nd finger for 5th string and 1st finger for 4th string.


-G chord
e|----------3-------------------|
B|------------------------------|
G|------------------------------|
D|------------------------------|
A|---------2-------------------|
E|---------3-------------------|

Use finger 2 for 6th string, finger 1 for 5th string, and finger 3 or 4 for 1st string.


Now when you know how to play these chords, practice them! Practice fast-switching between them, and try to play them with as less mistakes as possible.

Power chords

Power chords are essential for playing heavy metal, hard rock, and, generally, every type of rock.

To begin, first we need to make a rough definition of heavy metal.
Heavy metal have roots in blues-rock and psychedelic rock, and it's characteristics are thick, heavy sound, with guitars and drums in the first plan. Guitars are played with highly amplified distortion.
That was really rough definition of heavy metal.



This lesson will introduce you to the most common chords used in heavy metal. Fingers will be referred to by numbers:
1 - Index finger
2 - Middle f.
3 - Ring f.
4 - Pinky f.


Now, I won't get into definitions of power chords, because they are really confusing, and aren't very necessary.

The primary chord used in HM is the "Power chord". This is done like this:

e|-------------------------------------------------------| B|-------------------------------------------------------| G|------------------------------------------------------| D|------------------------------------------------------| A|-3----------------------------------------------------| E|-1----------------------------------------------------|

This chord would be called an F Power chord, which means that you will hear an F note, but there will be a harsh sound, created by the C note (third fret, fifth string).
This chord formation can be moved anywhere on the fretboard, allowing almost infinite possibilities... Practice it a bit, it's fun!
Default fingering for this type of power chord is to put finger 1 on the first fret of the first string, and finger 4 on the other string. There are some other ways to do this, but this is the most used one.



Inverted Power Chords: These chords are similar to the aforementioned chord,
except that these chords switch around the ordering.

e|----------------------------------|
B|----------------------------------|
G|----------------------------------|
D|----------------------------------|
A|-1--------------------------------|
E|-3--------------------------------|


This chord type is the opposite to the above chord. This is also not a F, but G (3rd fret, 6th string). Most common fingering for this one is just like the previous chord - but inverted too. That means that finger 4 will go on the higher string, and finger 1 on the one below.
These chords aren't common as the regular power chords. These chords surely doesn't sound like standard power chord. It even sometimes sounds like two strings randomly fretted and played. But still, they are used pretty often.



Another type of chord, follows this formation, and is very easy to remember:

e|--------------------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------------------|
G|--------------------------------------------|
D|--------------------------------------------|
A|---2----------------------------------------|
E|---2----------------------------------------|

This type of chords produces really dark sound, and it is very "throaty". As you can see, it's very simple to produce. There are two ways to do this:

1) Lay finger 1 across two desired frets
2) This involves two fingers, usually 1 and 2.

Way 2 is better in situations when you need to change to another chord quickly.


The last type of power chord that will be shown here is a little bit odd. It's rarely used, and when used, it's mostly by Metallica.

e|-------------------------|
B|-------------------------|
G|-------------------------|
D|-----4-------------------|
A|-----5-------------------|
E|-------------------------|


This one is most easily formed with two fingers. Fingers are 1 and 2. When you play this chord first time, it will sound like your guitar is out of tune. But don't be confused: It's really meant to sound that way!
If you play them often (but I see no reason for that), they will start sound OK to you. But if you're used to the power chords, this one will be pain in the a**...

A little slow-down

I must inform you that, due to personal matters, I will have to make a pause for a couple of days. Don't worry, this blog will continue as soon I resolve those matters.
Bye!