We've got a free songwriting lesson that teaches you some basic rock chord progressions. You can build on these progressions to write your own songs and see how these basic forms show up in so many popular songs.

Video Transcription

[Demonstration] Yeah! A power chord action right here. Hi! I’m Neal Walter and welcome back to the Guitar Tricks Channel. We got a fresh lesson and a tip of the week. Lesson of the week is on basic song writing chord patterns. I’m going to give you a couple real popular ones if you’re having trouble creating your song. This is a user request lesson from Carnivorous A, one of our YouTube subscribers and we’re going to help you out getting started on a song running at something new for you. And the tip of the week is called the power slide. It’s the first thing I have played in this lesson. It’s kind of beginner tip but a really cool thing and I’ve been using it ever since I started playing the guitar. It’s just the same. You’re going to put your hand up here on the neck, push down on the string, strike the string, slide down. [Demonstration] Power slide. You’re not necessarily starting for many nights just to kind of get that. Good rock. That sound in there. Now you can do it on down strokes, up strokes, you can go up the neck, or you can go up and back-down. Nice little handy flavour too playing right there, the power slide. So we’re here to hook up the lesson right here on basic song writing. One thing I’ve noticed in learning guitar and learning popular songs is that some patterns keep popping up. Remember when you’re writing songs, you’re not re-inventing the wheel. You’re using progressions that you have already been used but you’re adding your own personality to it. And the most common progression that I keep hearing from Michael Jackson and Led Zeppelin, which I call the straight pattern in the key of A, it’s the chords A. The music power chords, we can find the A, F, and the G. Three chords that are whole steps apart, whole step being two frets. [Demonstration] We’ll play a little bit of the three chords together and it will sound like something and that’s kind of the idea. [Demonstration] It’s really basic but it gets used all the time and you can take advantage of that yourself. You could play it in any different combination. You can start on the F chord to go up to the A. Get creative with it but it’s a real popular pattern and it comes in really handy. Another variation on this pattern is what I call the T-shape where you add the C to the exact same pattern I just showed you. So you end up with that kind of a T-shape like that and here is an example of how that would sound. [Demonstration] A couple of really cool tips for you right here. Little patterns to get you going in your song writing. One thing I’ve noticed in writing songs is—its better when I’m not getting too busy right away. The best songs take really simple ideas and layer with the other instruments, the bass, the drums, and vocals. And then in the end, it all comes together to create something. Take the chords that I have showed you and do it on your own way. Start on a different chord. Try it on different key. Try with open chords. Get flexible with it. I’m going to do a little altro lick right here. Remember to come on over and leave us a request or a comment in YouTube, MySpace, witter, or guitar tricks channel. And I’m going to altro on the same pattern in different keys just like in a variation on—of a killer week. [Demonstration]