Rock drills
Two fingers, two strings, one very strict right hand. Power chords are a root and a fifth — no third, so they are neither major nor minor, which is why they fit over anything.
Technique path: Drills · Exercises · Rock exercises · this page
Why it matters: the power-chord shape is the same everywhere on the neck, so learning it once buys you the whole fretboard. And the down-picking discipline you build here is what makes strumming, palm muting, and later metal feel easy. Where a drill is a shape or a picking pattern, TAB sits next to the explanation (high e on top). How to read it: Foundations · TAB.
One drill sounds at a time. Play becomes Stop on the same button. Standard EADGBE throughout — no drop-D in this room yet.
Suggested order
- The shape — E5 alone, clean and quiet.
- Move it — E5, G5, A5 on the low E string.
- Add the octave — the three-note version.
- Across strings — the same shape rooted on the A string.
- Palm-mute eighths.
- Downstroke stamina.
- Two-chord vamp and the pushed beat.
- A minor pentatonic box 1.
- E5–A5–B5, 12-bar in powers, slides.
- Syncopated mute and a one-string ostinato.
- First pieces — famous titles, chords only. No copied riffs.
Beginner
E5 alone, clean and quiet. Then slide it to G5 and A5. Mute the leftover strings.
Intermediate
Octave shape. A-string roots. Palm-mute eighths. Two-chord vamp.
Advanced
12-bar in powers. Syncopated mute. Then a first piece — I–IV–V or the four-chord loop, no copied riff.
Power chords
Index on the root, ring (or pinky) two frets higher on the next string. Mute everything else — leftover left-hand fingers lying across the strings, plus the picking palm.
1 · The shape — E5
Open low E plus A string fret 2. Nothing else should ring. Strike it once and listen: if you hear a high string, your muting is not there yet.
e|-x- B|-x- G|-x- D|-x- A|-2- E|-0- E5
2 · Move it — E5, G5, A5
Same shape, different fret. G5 is index on fret 3, ring on fret 5. A5 is fret 5 and 7. One bar each on the click. Move the whole hand as a block; do not re-build the shape finger by finger.
E5 G5 A5 e|-x- -x- -x- B|-x- -x- -x- G|-x- -x- -x- D|-x- -x- -x- A|-2- -5- -7- E|-0- -3- -5-
3 · Add the octave
Pinky on the D string, two frets above the root — the root again, an octave up. Fatter, and the standard rock voicing once your hand can reach it. Same shape, three strings.
e|-x- B|-x- G|-x- D|-2- A|-2- E|-0- E5 + octave
4 · Across strings
Root on the A string instead of the low E: C5 at fret 3, D5 at fret 5. The shape is identical; only the string name changes. Loop E5 → A5 → D5 and feel the hand cross.
E5 A5 D5 e|-x- -x- -x- B|-x- -x- -x- G|-x- -x- -x- D|-x- -x- -7- A|-2- -7- -5- E|-0- -5- -x-
Right hand
5 · Palm-mute eighths
Side of the picking palm resting on the strings right where they meet the bridge. Open low E, two hits per click. The pitch stays; the ring dies. Too far forward and the note is gone; too far back and nothing is muted — hunt for the spot.
e|----------------- B|----------------- G|----------------- D|----------------- A|----------------- E|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- P.M.
6 · Downstroke stamina
E5 on every click, all downstrokes, unmuted, for two full minutes. The forearm should stay loose — if it burns, you are gripping the pick too hard. This is the boring one that fixes everything else.
1 2 3 4 A|-2-----2-----2-----2-- E|-0-----0-----0-----0-- all ↓
Vamps
7 · Two-chord vamp
A5 for a bar, G5 for a bar, eighths throughout, muted except the first hit of each bar. Two chords is a whole song's worth of rhythm guitar — the change is the drill, not the chords.
A5 G5 e|-x-----------------x-- B|-x-----------------x-- G|-x-----------------x-- D|-x-----------------x-- A|-7-----------------5-- E|-5-----------------3-- P.M. after beat 1
8 · The pushed beat
Chord on 1, then again on the and of 2 — early, before beat 3. That anticipation is most of what makes a rock part sound like rock instead of a march. Count 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & out loud while it plays.
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & A|-2--------2--------------- E|-0--------0--------------- hit on 1 and the & of 2
Box 1
9 · A minor pentatonic — box 1
The rock, metal, and solo home shape at fret 5. Squares are A, the root. This lives inside Drills on purpose — this room has no standalone scales course. Ascend, descend, stay even.
e|---------------5-8-| B|-------------5-8---| G|-----------5-7-----| D|---------5-7-------| A|-------5-7---------| E|-5-8---------------|
More to do with this shape — cells, bends, phrasing — is on Solo drills.
Past the vamp
10 · E5 → A5 → B5
I–IV–V in E, power-chord spelling. B5 is the same shape at fret 7. Mute the leftover strings. Open-chord twin: E–A–B7.
E5 A5 B5 e|-x- -x- -x- B|-x- -x- -x- G|-x- -x- -x- D|-x- -x- -x- A|-2- -7- -9- E|-0- -5- -7-
11 · 12-bar in powers
E5 for four bars, A5 two, E5 two, B5–A5–E5–B5. Same map as 12-bar blues, no third, no copied turnaround lick.
| E5 | E5 | E5 | E5 | | A5 | A5 | E5 | E5 | | B5 | A5 | E5 | B5 |
12 · Slide the shape
Hold E5 two beats, slide the whole hand to G5 for two. Do not rebuild the fingers. The slide is the sentence.
1 2 3 4 A|-2--/--5------ E|-0--/--3------ E5 slide G5
13 · Descend D5–C5–A5–G5
A-string roots first (D5, C5), then low-E roots (A5, G5). Crossing strings inside a falling line is the hard part — keep the mute.
D5 C5 A5 G5 D|-7- -5- -x- -x- A|-5- -3- -7- -5- E|-x- -x- -5- -3-
14 · Syncopated mute
Chord on 1; muted chops on the and of 2 and the and of 4. The holes are the groove. Count 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &.
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & A|-2--------x-----------x--- E|-0--------x-----------x--- chord · mute · mute
15 · One-string ostinato
Low E: open, fret 3, fret 5, fret 3 — eighths. A generic root–b3–4 cell (Hal Leonard / Berklee box language), not a transcribed riff. Palm optional.
e|----------------- B|----------------- G|----------------- D|----------------- A|----------------- E|-0-0-3-3-5-5-3-3-
First pieces
Rock first pieces are progressions and rhythms, not riffs. We do not print Smoke on the Water, Seven Nation Army, or any other copyrighted line. Use the shapes on this page and the loops on Play along.
How to start
- Pick a vamp you can mute evenly (E5–A5–B5 or A5–G5).
- Play it for eight bars without looking at the left hand.
- If you know a famous tune that uses that map, hum it — do not copy a recorded riff.
Beginner piece
E5–G5–A5, one bar each. Or G–C–D open: three-chord.
Intermediate piece
E5–A5–B5 or the 12-bar in powers. Pushed beat on the change.
Advanced piece
12-bar with syncopated mute. Box 1 fills in the gaps — land on the root. See Solo · first pieces.
Famous titles (chords / powers only)
| Recognition | Map | Hear it |
|---|---|---|
| Wild Thing · Louie Louie colour · most three-chord rock | I–IV–V (G–C–D or E–A–B / E5–A5–B5) | Three-chord · E–A–B7 · drill 10 |
| Let It Be · No Woman, No Cry · countless radio tunes | I–V–vi–IV | Four-chord song |
| 12-bar rock and roll · Johnny B. Goode colour (not the riff) | I–I–I–I–IV–IV–I–I–V–IV–I–V | 12-bar blues · drill 11 |
| Sweet Home Alabama colour (not the riff) | D–C–G type walk | Drill 13 is the falling-power cousin |
| Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door | G–D–Am–C | Folk shapes on Folk · first pieces |
If the thing you want to play is a riff (a fixed single-string or power-chord hook), write your own eight-bar ostinato from drill 15 instead of copying a record.
Practice note
How long: 12 minutes. Two on the shape, four on mute or a vamp, four on 12-bar or E5–A5–B5, then one first-piece map.
Listen for: silence between the hits. A rock rhythm part is judged by how clean the gaps are, not how loud the chords are. Also listen for the high strings sneaking in — a power chord with a stray B string sounds thin.
Common mistake: tensing the picking arm to get volume. Volume comes from the amp. Keep the wrist small and the arm quiet, especially before you go anywhere near metal tempos.