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Chords form the platform for all western musical styles. They create the musical bed over which the lead instruments can play their melodies and are therefore fundamental to all musical styles.

Make sure the circuit board is not shorting to the case somehow because a screw is missing or the board is cracked. If it is, you might be able to simply use black electrical tape to shield the board from the case. Also, make sure the circuit board isn’t shorting to a component.

Worst case if that there is a problem with the circuit board itself. You may be able to look up a schematic on your model of best distortion pedal and trace the fault using a millimeter. If you can find the fault, depending on the difficulty, you may be able to make the repair on the board itself or even custom build an identical circuit board and use the old board’s components. I’m assuming you have some electronics diagnostics skills which are beyond the scope of this article.

But as a new guitarist, you might be wondering where to start exactly. I mean everyone knows that guitar chords are a big part of playing the guitar, right? But what types of chord are there and how should they be used? How do I play them? The questions are almost endless.

Start with Easy Chords

Well, first of all, I think that beginners need to start off with easy chords before going on to anything more advanced. It’s important that you see progress in your playing abilities so that you get some satisfaction from the progress you’re making. Far too many guitarists bite off more than they can chew by aiming to play their favorite riff or song right of the bat and get disappointed and quit because they can’t master it within a fortnight.

Don’t let that happen to you! I want you to continue to learn to play guitar, and enjoy playing for the rest of your life. This is a fun pastime so let’s make sure we all enjoy it, right from the beginning – OK?

So the first type of chord that I recommend you learn is the power chord. A lot of people might disagree and tell you that you should learn open chords first. Well, open chords do tend to be relatively easy too, but the most straightforward and simply chords in my view are power chords.

How to Play Power Chords

Power chords are simply the root note (usually the bass not, or lowest note of the chord) and the fifth note of the scale. So, when playing an E power cord, you would play E and D. You do this by, for example, playing the open 6th string at the same time as the 2nd fret of the 5th string. You don’t need to play any other strings but, if you can manage it, you can add in the 2nd fret of the 4th string to give a fuller sound.

It’s as simple as that. Now you can move that shape up and down the freeboard, for example playing the 5th fret of the 6th string and the 7th frets of the 5th and 4th strings to produce an A power chord.

Give it a go, by using power chords on guitar, you’ll find you’ll be able to play some simple songs using with just a few hours practice. And that will inspire you to continue your studies without getting bogged down in difficult techniques that take a long time to master.

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