In this first volume of Chord Studies: Power Slash Chords, you'll expand your vocabulary of rhythm guitar approaches by combining power chords with different bass notes. By changing the number of voices in your power chords, you'll learn to create unique harmonic textures. This pack will also help solidify the principles behind the construction and labeling of slash chords.
About the Chord Studies Series
If Forest Gump’s shrimp-loving Bubba played guitar, his take on chords might go something like this, ”You can strum ‘em, fingerpick ‘em, arpeggiate ‘em, mute ‘em, alternate tune ‘em, voice lead ‘em. Dey’s uh, barre chords, altered chords, extended chords, moveable chords, cluster chords, slash chords, inversions, triads, diads. There’s jazz chords, power chords, blues chords, cowboy chords, block chords, open chords…”
Bubba would be right — there’s a wide and wonderful world of chords for we guitarists to explore. But what’s the best way to do that? Chord dictionaries might be handy references but there’s no context (and really, when’s the last time you looked at one of those?).
Theory and harmony instructionals are filled with chord construction strategies and applications and we highly recommend digging as deep into the science of chords as your left brain will allow you.
However, learning new chords, progressions, applications and right-hand techniques in a musical context (songs, etudes, jamming with other players, etc.) is the most popular approach and that is the educational premise behind Brad’s Carlton’s Chord Studies course seres.
Each edition of Chord Studies features 15 play-along and jammable chord studies, which are focused on a particular chord type, chord progression or chord application. While Brad does touch on rhythmic qualities, this is not a rhythm guitar course — these studies are specifically designed to significantly expand your chord know-how and vocabulary.
Brad covers a range of styles, levels , chord types and progressions across 10 editions: CAGED Chords, Jazz Blues Progressions, Open String Chords, Rock and Pop Progressions, Slow Blues Progressions, Evolving Blues, Evolving Triads, Slash Chords, Power Chords and Beginner Chords.
Each of the 15 Studies within an edition includes an overview from Brad followed by a performance and play-along of the chord study over a rhythm track. Chord grid charts and a chord lead sheet accompanies each study. Plus, you’ll get all of the practice rhythm tracks to work with on your own.
Reference the chord charts to become familiar with the voicings and their fingerings, and then use the lead sheet to play-along with Brad’s video performance. Try different rhythmic patterns over the supplied rhythm tracks and then take it all to your own playlist of songs and jam tracks.
What you'll learn
Play root position power chords with proper voicing
Execute hybrid picking technique for power chord progressions
Execute a second-finger barre across strings 5, 4, and 3
Use proper body positioning to maintain intonation
In this first volume of Chord Studies: Power Slash Chords, you'll expand your vocabulary of rhythm guitar approaches by combining power chords with different bass notes. By changing the number of voices in your power chords, you'll learn to create unique harmonic textures. This pack will also help solidify the principles behind the construction and labeling of slash chords.
2Power Slash Chords Vol. 1
In this first volume of Chord Studies: Power Slash Chords, you'll expand your vocabulary of rhythm guitar approaches by combining power chords with different bass notes. By changing the number of voices in your power chords, you'll learn to create unique harmonic textures. This pack will also help solidify the principles behind the construction and labeling of slash chords.
3B in the Bass
In this example, we have a constant B note in the bass and are moving intervals to form power chords around it. You start with an A5/B and then you simply move the double stops through the Bm pentatonic scale. You may be thinking that these chords have other names, and that's correct, but throughout this course we want to visualize these as power chords over a bass note.
4B in the Bass
In this example, we have a constant B note in the bass and are moving intervals to form power chords around it. You start with an A5/B and then you simply move the double stops through the Bm pentatonic scale. You may be thinking that these chords have other names, and that's correct, but throughout this course we want to visualize these as power chords over a bass note.
5Different Roots
This example is exactly the same as the previous example, except this time we're rooting everything off the fifth string. It's important to be able to play these kinds of progressions on different string sets to facilitate moving around the neck in different keys.
6Different Roots
This example is exactly the same as the previous example, except this time we're rooting everything off the fifth string. It's important to be able to play these kinds of progressions on different string sets to facilitate moving around the neck in different keys.
7Root Four
Here we're using the same four chords that we've used in the previous two examples, this time using the fourth string as our bass note. You'll notice that we've come up an octave from the previous examples as well. So start with home base at ninth position with the A5/B and then proceed up the Bm pentatonic scale as in our other examples.
Wow, this and Bradʻs Power Chord series is deceptively instructive. I tend to the jazz studies; can spell out unending chord inversions and variations, blah blah. But these videos were so cool: taking it down to the power 5ths, yet at the same time exposing all the OPEN STRING opportunities. Dang man, Iʻm too old to exploit all these ideas but sure hope some younger, fresher songwriters get the idea.
