School of Rock Guitar

AC/DC TEACH US A LESSON

Angus and the band take us to school!

For me, AC/DC are the archetypal rock band. They have maintained the same energy and spirit since they released their first album in 1975, and they have never deviated from the course. No ballads, no acoustic numbers, no disco-crossover hits, no following trends. Just consistent, old fashioned, straight ahead, no frills, blue collar, blues influenced rock and roll, delivered with a sense of humour. Notice, however, that I didn't say simple. Playing with economy and taste is far from simple and is an under appreciated art-form.

LESSON 1 - OPEN POSITION CHORDS

Some bands, like Led Zeppelin, create great single note riffs derived from pentatonic and blues scales. Other bands, like Black Sabbath, built a career around moveable power chord riffs.

However, Open Position Chords are the backbone of AC/DC riffs!

In alphabetical order; A C D E G

These five chords are the cornerstone upon which the AC/DC repertoire is based. Of course, they use other chords, including moveable barre chords and power chords, but these five shapes get used over and over again, to great effect.

Coincidentally, these also happen to be the CAGED chords, if you are familiar with that system of navigating the guitar.

You can review the Open Position chords here.

There are a few reasons why Open Position Chords sound fuller and ring out longer;

1. Most Moveable Power Chords use only two or three strings, but Open Position Chords and Open Position Power Chords will often feature four, five, or six strings, with each sting having its own set of complex overtones - it is simply a richer sound. An open position G5 chords will sound thicker than one played at the 10th fret.

2. Intonation - your guitar is usually set up to sound the most "in tune' in open position. As you play Barre Chords higher up the next, you will probably notice the intonation gets less accurate.

3. Mass - as you play further up the neck, you are actually reducing the length of string that vibrates and produces sound. Open strings, and notes closer to the nut will have more mass and vibrate for longer, which creates more sustain.

When AC/DC do use Barre Chords or Power Chords, it is usually B or F, which can't be played as Open Chords.

LESSON 2 - COMMON KEYS, MIXOLYDIAN ROCK HARMONY, & INVERSIONS

Common Keys

If we were to make a list of classic AC/DC songs, we would definitely see that there are certain keys that the band favour.

A is the most common key by far.

E come in a close 2nd.

G and B are probably tied for 3rd place.

Mixolydian Rock Harmony

Like most classic rock bands, AC/DC tend to favour Mixolydian progressions, where the tonic is actually the V chord of a major scale. Because of the Blues influence, we are used to hearing major and minor melodies over V chords, which are dominant in quality.

You can find more detailed explanations of this concept here and here.

However, to summarise quickly;

In traditional music theory, the main chords in a key are the Primary Triads, built upon the 1st, 4th, and 5th notes of a major scale. The "one" chord would be the main chord, or the tonic. In classic rock, we would use the same chords, but the V chord would be the or the tonic.

Key of A (Traditional, 1 4 5): A D E

Key of E (Traditional, 1 4 5): E A B

Key of G (Traditional, 1 4 5): G C D

Key of A (Rock, 5 4 1): A G D

Key of E (Rock, 5 4 1): E D A

Key of G (Rock, 5 4 1): G F C

"Other" Chords

After the Mixolydian Triads, the two chords most commonly added to progressions are the V chord from the traditional key, and a chord built upon the b3 of the Blues Scale (although this chord is usually played quickly, as a "passing" chord.

You can hear the the V in Rock or Bust. |: B | D A E :||

You can hear the the bIII in Shot Down in Flames. |: A G | D C :||

Highway to Hell is probably the textbook example of adding the V chord. The verse and the chorus both use the chords A D G, but immediately before the chorus there is a two bar build up on an E chord, the V chord from the traditional key.

Key of A (Traditional, 1 4 5): A D E

Key of E (Traditional, 1 4 5): E A B

Key of G (Traditional, 1 4 5): G C D

Key of A (Rock, 5 4 1): A G D V E bIII C

Key of E (Rock, 5 4 1): E D A V B bIII G

Key of G (Rock, 5 4 1): G F C V D bIII Bb

Minor Chords

It is interesting to note that AC/DC hardly ever use minor chords. The only two examples that come to mind right away are Hells Bells, which is in A minor, and Let Me Put My Love Into You, which is in Em. I'm sure there are others, but the fact that they are not obvious should go to show how infrequently they are used.

Arpeggios

An arpeggio is when you play the notes of a chord one at a time. This is another concept that doesn't appear very often, but is often quite dramatic when it does.

Listen to the intros to Hells Bells, Rock and Roll Damnation, For Those About to Rock, or the choruses of You Shook Me All Night Long and Who Made Who to hear arpeggios in action.

Inversions

Normally, the lowest note in a chord is also the name of the chord. However, we can change the order of the notes so that another note in the chord is the lowest. We call this an inversion. Here are some inversions of a D chord;

You can see that the second and third chords are written as D/F# and D/A. The letter on the left if the name of the chord, and the note on the right, after the slash, tells which note should be the lowest.

Inversions are primarily used in two ways;

1. To create "movement" and little melodies to connect chord changes.

2. To create a "pedal" where the chords change but the bass note doesn't, acting like a "sonic glue" to hold everything together.

Listen to Love Hungry Man to hear the D/F# chord create movement from the D to the G chords.

The same D/F# also shows up in Highway to Hell, Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be, and It's a Long Want to the Top (If You Want to Rock and Roll), and For Those About to Rock (We Salute You).

D/A can be heard as part of a pedal idea in If You Want Blood (You Got It) and Shoot to Thrill.

Single Note Fill Riffs

It isn't as common as you would expect, but there are some great examples of Single Note Fill Riffs in several AC/DC songs, usually towards the end of a phrase, and often derived from the minor pentatonic and blues scales.

Check out Back in Black, Girls Got Rhythm, Flick of the Switch, Have a Drink On Me, and Night Prowler.

Sometimes single notes are used just to "connect" a couple of the chords in the progression, as seen in the intro to Walk All Over You, or the chorus to You Shook Me All Night Long.

LESSON 3 - RHYTHM RULES

Malcolm Young is a fantastic rhythm player. He is the master of duration; making chords last exactly as long as he wants them too, whether they are ringing out, or being cut short to create a staccato effect.

You can make the music more interesting by accenting certain chords and rhythms. We can create these accents by playing a little louder. Listen to Touch Too Much from Highway to Hell for a great example of the power of accents.

Hits and stabs are extreme forms of accents, and often feature syncopation.

Syncopation is when we place emphasis on a weaker beat. If we count a bar of music like this;

1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and

The "ands" are on the upbeat, or the weak part of the beat. By playing on and emphasising these weak beats, we create syncopation, which has effect of propelling the music forward and giving it energy and momentum.

Check out the following rhythm to see a common AC/DC rhythm which creates syncopation by changing chords every three quavers or eighth notes, squaring up on the last two beats of the second bar.

1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 1 2

Anticipation (sometimes called "pushes") is another form of syncopation. Effectively, you anticipate a chord change and perform it a little early, on the preceding upbeat.

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap clearly illustrates this effect. The chords of the main riff are played on the "ands" while the chords in the chorus are on the beat.

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap - Main Riff

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap - Chorus

LESSON 4 - FINDING YOUR "PLACE" IN THE BAND (AND IN THE MIX)

If you see AC/DC live, you will notice that Angus has his amps on the right side of the drum kit/stage, while Malcolm (and now Stevie) is positioned on the left.

This is the same when you listen to the albums. Angus will be on the right channel and Malcolm will be on the left. This applies to the rhythm guitar sounds. Angus' solos are usually panned to the center.

Once you know this, it makes it much easier to identify who is playing what. Check out You Shook Me All Night Long from Back in Black. Both brothers play together during the intro, then you hear Angus playing the riff by himself on the right channel. When verse 2 begins at 0:46, you can hear Malcolm join in on the left channel.

The brothers have very different guitar sounds.

Malcolm play a Gretsch Jet Firebird (Double Cut), which is almost clean, and features a very bright, cutting sound.

Angus plays a Gibson SG, which is more overdriven and has a warmer sound. Keep in mind, it is more overdriven than Malcolm's sound, but there is still not a lot of gain. Because Malcolm plays with a cleaner sound, he can often play all the notes of a chord, including the major thirds which are often omitted by Angus to create power chords. This is part of the reason why the guitars sound so big!

When the brothers play together, you get the combined effect of the different sounds. There is warmth, but it is defined. It's a mighty sound.

LESSON 5 - CONTRAST

The different guitars sounds are just one way that the brothers create contrast.

If you listen to Shot Down in Flames, you can hear Angus playing an octave higher than Malcolm. They will often play slightly different "voicings" and in different "registers" to fill out the sound and make it bigger. As mentioned above, Malcolm will often play major chords, while Angus will play power chords.

Shoot to Thrill features a "pedal" part, but only one of the brothers plays it, while the other brother simple plays the "stabs". This allow them to keep the music tight and prevent it from sounding sloppy.

Each approach is deliberate and has been worked out to make the music sound as big and powerful as possible.