Which power chord songs to learn?

Working through the Rock I course and want to apply concepts by learning songs. Which songs on GT are recommended for power chords. I'll do Blitzkrieg Bop, Wild Thing, and All the Small Things. What else are appropriate for a beginner?

Hi,

Twisted Sister's We're Not Gonna Take It is a power chord fest. It's pretty easy (even the solo) and doesn't justify a 3 guitar difficulty, IMO.

:)

Why not the power chord song that started it all, "You Really Got Me" by the Kinks? The song lesson here is certainly not for a beginner. I think it is listed as "4 Picks" difficulty. It probably goes into the VH's smoking solo, etc. And the lesson here is of the Van Halen version. I really wish Guitar Tricks would get some Kinks songs.

But glance at the lesson enough to pick up the power chords. Then find a backing track on YouTube or some such place and practice it. Or play along to the Kinks doing it.

Concur with you on wanting The Kinks songs matonanjin2, in particular "You Really Got Me" - original version, not the confused Van Halen cover, and "All Day and All of the Night".

The Kinks songs have been requested a 'zillion' times by myself and others here in just the time I've been a member. OK, so I grant "zillion" might be hyperbole to make the point, but you take it on board?

Never gonna' happen. Same old same old appeasement excuse, but in my considered opinion it's baloney. Other sites manage to secure legal performance rights to teach them. Try harder, or call me a 'didn't come down in the last shower' cynic if you will, but Ockham's Razor makes it quite apparent to me certain bands/songs frequently requested here eg. #2 Led Zeppelin, simply don't target GT's preferred subscriber demographic.

I went elsewhere to learn both, as one currently has to.

Concur that both of songs are a superb intermediate power chord workout, but played accurately per Dave Davies neck aerobics, to the OP IDK I'd consider either of them a preferred true beginner power chord song to learn with all that sliding up and down the neck at their bar & slide timing and overall tempo, especially "You Really Got Me". An "exercise in frustration" or "certainly challenging", I'll leave the choice between semantics to the individual, but they are for those without Dave's at the time sixteen year old's wrists and reflexes IME.

Truly love their driving melody, and can play them both now, but I wouldn't recommend either as beginner power chord songs. As a beginner I'd recommend and go (and did back when) with something easier like a Sabbath riff, E5 at the 12th fret where Tony Iommi plays it e.g. "Paranoid", because tackling something not a bridge too far with success assured builds confidence and is joyous, which in turn drives the cycle of perpetual enthusiasm.

Originally Posted by: manXcat

Never gonna' happen. Same old same old appeasement excuse, but in my considered opinion it's baloney. Other sites manage to secure legal performance rights to teach them. Try harder, or call me a 'didn't come down in the last shower' cynic if you will, but Ockham's Razor makes it quite apparent to me certain bands/songs frequently requested here eg. #2 Led Zeppelin, simply don't target GT's preferred subscriber demographic.

I'm gonna jump in here on this point.

Licensing songs legally is very, very, very hard. This is what is occuring on this site. Guitar Tricks is entering an agreement with the songs publisher to legally post and teach their content. From that; Guitar Tricks is paying the publisher (ie - the band/song writer) for their work.

You can go to YouTube and get lessons for a band like Led Zeppelin and wonder why some guy can just post up a lesson 'just like that'. They're not paying the band. YouTube does not enforce royalty payments. YouTube's role is to ensure that if a channel posts copywritten material from a published band (ie - Zep), that such YouTube user/channel gets demonitized. The channel does not get paid on that vid. They still get traffic to their channel and then other videos they post they can get paid on because of spillover traffic...as well as other lessons and swag they might be selling.

To be clear though; the band ain't gettin' paid on those videos. Some videos even get taken down. Even if a legit site posts a Led Zep video; it's likely the band is not getting paid. Not cool...unless you're Fender (Play)...then you have the 'muscle' to do it.

Thing is, I had a record label at one time. It was a smaller label but we released about 25 different releases and had some national distribution (ie - Tower and Best Buy). We had a couple of releases that had cover tunes and I had to license all of those songs. It took a very long time, It was hard. I had do the same for a good dozen bands whose songs were being used on a couple of projects.

Some bands/artists don't care as long as they get paid and contract with an intermediary like the Harry Fox Agency to collect and distribute. Other bands require more control (like when I had to go to The Metro in Chicago to physically bring a document to Tesla for sign off...I mean they were very cool and hooked me up with special seating etc).

The point being is that even when you see things posted elsewhere, it's not because Guitar Tricks doesn't want to get the song. It's because Guitar Tricks will only post songs legally obtained where, and this is critial, the artist gets paid.

Led Zeppelin are blockers (using this example) and license nothing. It's a legacy of Peter Grant.

Thought I'd add my experience.

Thanks for sharing your insight Jeff65. Regardless, my personal opinionative conclusion remains unchanged.

Just to be transparently clear, in my post I wasn't referring to bootleg tutorials available on You Tube, amateur or otherwise.

One doesn't have to search very hard to find legitimate alternative teaching sites featuring the material I spoke of. Given the penchant for litigation you allude to, clearly it can be done, and arguably, achieved presumably legally where the will to do so is there.

I think you might realise I've sufficient integrity and intellect to have considered all of this previously, as stated in my earlier post of a few months back which was buried with an obvious false ID single post user misdirectional post until another disgruntled (now ex) subscriber bumped it with his own 'why I'm leaving post' which breathed new life into it sufficient that ignoring it further just drew attention to that fact so it [u]finally[/u] received a belated response from a GT spokeperson, albeit the predictable familiar hackneyed script.

Consequently I just left it at that as I've been around the planet long enough to know the pointlessness of whipping a dead horse or waste time giving myself a headache banging my head against the brick wall of obtusity and deflection.

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Thanks for posting your insight Jeff. Very interesting. I have some experience with SoCan up here in Canada because of my son, but the music business can be a murky environment for us lay people.

But, to the OP's question: I really enjoyed learning Judas Priest "Breaking the Law". The link is in my sig line. Its not very difficult once you get the tempo down.

Wicked Garden by Stone Temple Pilots is a good song for practicing power chords.

Good call, William. Personally, I think JP's Living After Midnight is easier and better for a single guitar playthrough. 👍

Another good power chord song is I Fought the Law by The Clash. IMO, it's noticeably more difficult than the rest of the recommendations so far, due to some odd strumming paterns and there's a barre chord thrown in for good measure. I think it's a fun song though, and perhaps a stepping stone to the next level.

Thanks for the suggestions. I checked out some of those and looked at some of the other GT lessons on the (usually) easier side of the spectrum. Here's my to-do list to work from:

Ramones

- Blitzkrieg Bop

- The KKK Took My Baby Away

Blink 182

-All the Small Things[br]-Rock show[br]Judas Priest

-Breaking the Law[br]-Living After Midnight[br]Cheap Trick

-Surrender[br]Twisted Sister

-We're Not Gonna Take It (guitar 1)[br]-I Wanna Rock[br]Nirvana

-In Bloom[br]Meat Puppets

-Backwater

That's a lot of work! Good luck, have fun and I'd love to hear how you get on.

If you're still looking for a power chord workout, I've just remembered that you can try Boston's Foreplay. That thing is nothing but power chords. Of course, it's really the intro to Long Time, which has some tasty PCs of its own.

Originally Posted by: jonnyroot3345

Power chords are less difficult to play than are their full-version counterparts and do not contain a main or minor nice to them, so they can stand in for either type of chord. Plus, they're masses of fun to play!

They are also the bread and butter of rock...

still looking for a power chord workout, I've just remembered that you can try Boston's Foreplay. That thing is nothing but power chords. Of course, it's really the i