OK, let’s assume I’m a rock ‘n’ roll retard. Never learned to play Stairway to Heaven like all the other thirtysomethings. Not very good at stretching my hands to make those chord-shapes. Don’t even like playing G, cause it looks like I’m saying fuck you. But I heard all the Ramones songs have three chords. Hey nifty, I can play those! Oh wait, I have to figure out WHICH chords. Damn it! And I’m not the type to figure it out for myself. Help me help me help me help me help me help me. What are the chords to “Beat On the Brat”? “I Wanna Be Sedated”? “Rock N Roll High School”?
P.S. Half of the Who is dead.
Half the Beatles are dead now too.
Half the Ramones are dead, and in much less time!
I guess rock ‘n’ roll is on its half-life now.
Any of the Clash dies and I’ll make myself dead. Just kidding.
I’m not familiar with any of those tunes, but when we talk about “3-chord” songs, it’s generally I, IV and V. (The V is generally V7). In the key of C, that’s C, F and G7. In the key of G, it’s G, C and D7. Is that what you’re asking?
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by tclouie *
**Don’t even like playing G, cause it looks like I’m saying fuck you. QUOTE]
You could always do what guitar teachers all tell you not to but all the rest of us really lame guitar players do, and use your thumb for the low G on the sixth string.
For maximum authenticity as a bad, power-chord-only rhythm guitarist, never actually play more than three strings at a time, using the first finger for the lowest string and the third finger for the next two higher strings, two frets farther up the neck. You’ll be stunned at how much stuff you can imitate passably that way. You’ll also ensure that you’ll never get any better at other chord shapes, and thus will never improve at all (as my history as a guitarist amply proves).
Thanks for the answers, guys. All of the answers have been pretty much spot on and helpful, including the jokes. While Snoo[etc.]py, jinty, Jerevan and K3 focused more on specific songs, MrO focused more on a theoretical technique with broad application. It all helps.
I confess that I am almost/not quite a liar – remember, I said “let’s assume I’m a RNRR.” Actually, I did learn how to play “Stairway to Heaven.” I can even play the reggae version à la Dread Zeppelin. I know a little something about chord theory, about transposing chords and the difference between open chords and barre chords. (Barres are better for the rocknroll finale of “Stairway”.) The fuck-you-G thing is my little joke: I used it to teach G to a beginner one time. (I love G, use it all the time.)
But even if my guitar knowledge isn’t retarded, my guitar fingering sure as hell is, cuz I don’t practice enough.
What the hell, I just wanted to start a thread that talked about the Ramones and musical theory in the same breath. Forgive me for a troublemaker.
Here’s another question for MrO: I-IV-V is used a lot for rock, but I think I remember also hearing that V-II-I was common for playing the blues. So I guess a blues song might be something like Am-Em-D or something? What do you think?
Thanks for the answers, guys. All of the answers have been pretty much spot on and helpful, including the jokes. While Snoo[etc.]py, jinty, Jerevan and K3 focused more on specific songs, MrO focused more on a theoretical technique with broad application. It all helps.
I confess that I am almost/not quite a liar – remember, I said “let’s assume I’m a RNRR.” Actually, I did learn how to play “Stairway to Heaven.” I can even play the reggae version à la Dread Zeppelin. I know a little something about chord theory, about transposing chords and the difference between open chords and barre chords. (Barres are better for the rocknroll finale of “Stairway”.) The fuck-you-G thing is my little joke: I used it to teach G to a beginner one time. (I love G, use it all the time.)
But even if my guitar knowledge isn’t retarded, my guitar fingering sure as hell is, cuz I don’t practice enough.
What the hell, I just wanted to start a thread that talked about the Ramones and musical theory in the same breath. Forgive me for a troublemaker.
Here’s another question for MrO: I-IV-V is used a lot for rock, but I think I remember also hearing that V-II-I was common for playing the blues. So I guess a blues song might be something like Am-Em-D or something? What do you think?
Back in my college band days, we came up with a bunch of songs that use the G-C-F-C repeating chord structure. We’d turn them into a something like 12-minute extended jam. At the moment, I can only remember two: “What I Like About You” and “R-O-C-K in the U.S.A.”
Since we’ve been talking so much about G, here’s my favorite chord-fingering shortcut:
I like to finger open G as 320033 instead of 320003. It’s still valid because it changes the B on that string to a D, and you’ve still got a B up on the fifth string.
What this does is put your ring finger on the second string in the same position that your ring finger is when you finger open D. So when you go from G to D, you can simply rotate around on your ring finger instead of having to pick up all your fingers.
To play Ramones songs you need to know 2 barre chords: the one that looks like an E chord and the one that looks like an A chord, is the only way I know how to describe it. For the one that looks like an E, take your index finger & barre all 6 strings right across. Put your middle finger on the G string on the next fret down, and your pinky and ring fingers on the 2nd fret down (from your index finger), pinky on the D string and ring finger on the A string. The root is the note your hitting with your index finger on both E strings.
For the other barre chord, the one that looks like an A chord, place your index finger on the A string and barre the D, G and B strings with your ring finger. The high E string will be muted. You can also fret the low E string with your index finger, but the root is the note you’re fretting on the A string.
Now that we got that settled, you can play any song in any key you want, but I think the correct keys of the songs you mentioned are: Beat on the Brat: B, I wanna Be Sedated: E (changes to F# after the instumental break), R & R HS: E (not sure about that). Think there’s a key change in that one towards the end too.
Now I don’t doubt the fella who says you can play sedated in A, but I know its in E on the record- I used to tune my gee-tar to it way back when.
For all 3 songs, the root chord should be the barre chord that looks like an A.
If you never played barre chords before, you’ll find it difficult at first, but with a lot of masturbation, uh, I mean practice, you’ll get the hang of it. Probably. Me personally, if I play 2 Ramones songs in a row my hand starts to cramp up from the non stop barre chords, on account of my double jointed thumb. But that’s another story.
I can even play the reggae version à la Dread Zeppelin. I know a little something about chord theory, about transposing chords and the difference between open chords and barre chords. (Barres are better for the rocknroll finale of “Stairway”.) The fuck-you-G thing is my little joke: I used it to teach G to a beginner one time. (I love G, use it all the time.)