All about Modern Guitar Chord Styles 2: Electric Guitar
Frequently asked Questions
Welcome to the FAQ for Modern Guitar Chord Styles, Book 2. A specialist text for Electric guitar chords, rhythms and styles, MGCS2 builds on from MGCS1 but focuses purely on Electric guitar. Packed with information and progressions, this handy tutor book gives you a professional view on the patchwork of styles from old-school to current that electric guitar creates.
Read on to find out everything you need to know about who MGCS2 is for and how to use it:
βThe Modern Guitar Chord Styles 2 book has been a great learning aid, not only to really develop my bar chord knowledge but also playing techniques and styles. It has helped me to progress from power chords through to much more complex chord variations.β
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Modern Guitar Chord Styles, Book 2 is focused on Electric guitar and the styles specific to it. This includes historic examples from itβs heyday and the Pop genres it played a prime part in. Building on from the foundational knowledge created by MGCS1, Modern Guitar Chord Styles 2 provides a systematic approach to learning the essential bar-chord forms and understanding what styles they best apply to. Not suitable for acoustic guitars but excellent for electric guitar players.
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Modern Guitar Chord Styles 2 is designed for intermediate players who already have a foundation in guitar basics, probably from starting on acoustic guitar but who have now moved up to an electric-guitar and need some instrument specific tutor material for it.
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For small parts yes; for the whole book, no. Whilst some chord introduction material is playable on good steel-string acoustics, Modern Guitar Chord Styles 2 is designed specifically for electric guitars. The frequent use of bar chords throughout is only suitable for electric-guitar playing. And, although some of the progressions are playable on acoustic, you wont fully realize the tone and sound styling without hearing it on an electric with suitable amplification.
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Modern Guitar Chord Styles 2 introduces all the common moveable chord forms that are categorized as Root 6 and Root 5 chords and power chords. Starting from the essential major and minor forms MGCS2 then gradually introduces dominant 7th, minor 7th, major 6th and 7ths, embellishment forms, and dominant extensions such as 9th and 13th chords.
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Yes, Modern Guitar Chord Styles 2 contains many genre-specific progression examples, including Rock examples from the 1950s to current, Rhythm & Blues (R&B), Reggae, Disco, Jazz-rock (cool 1970s fusion style), Rock and Blues shuffles, heavy Blues style and more.
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Yes, itβs all there ; Modern Guitar Chord Styles 2 includes an in-depth look at two-note, and three-note power chord forms. Known also as βRock chordsβ, MGCS2 demonstrates how power chords are often used in conjunction with full chords to create more sophisticated Rock progressions.
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Yes, rhythm is a significant focus of Modern Guitar Chord Styles 2. Whilst there are some exercises that focus purely on timing, most of the practice progressions feature rhythm as an integral part of the exercise. MGCS2 encourages practicing with a metronome, or drum machine to develop precise timing and a strong sense of rhythm.
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The book includes arpeggio picking exercises as well as picked embellishment styles, which help add interest and variety to rhythm playing. Classic electric-guitar plectrum style arpeggio technique is discussed and used in several exercises in the second half of MGCS2.
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Whilst not theory-based, Modern Guitar Chord Styles 2 does include relevant theory information where appropriate. The book focuses mostly on practical examples but also describes how chords are constructed and applied within progressions. The main purpose of MGCS2 is to get you playing, rather than get you bogged down in harmony theory!
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Yes, lots of them! Modern Guitar Chord Styles 2 suggests practicing progression exercises to a metronome and gradually increasing your speed. It is packed with tips on everything from chord-change tricks to playing posture, pick work, tone shaping, amplifier settings, and more.
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βThinking Techniqueβ is a discussion about the important aspects of playing posture, muscle memory, and practice habits. It emphasizes the importance of having regular breaks from practice, and holding an instrument the right way so that your hand positioning is set at the most efficient angles. This reduces physical strain and allows good technique development. These are issues all instrument players have to consider as they develop towards advanced ability.
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Modern Guitar Chord Styles 2 doesnβt include known songs but provides many excellent example progressions and chord riffs inspired by popular songs. This includes exercises based on standard progressions such as 12-bar and 8-bar Blues in various keys, power-chord riffs and Rock riffs using embellishment chords. These well structured examples emulate known songs and a sample recording of all the progressions is available, either on the physical bookβs accompanying CD, or via the free download available from our website.
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Volume 2 of the Modern Guitar Chord Styles series is focused on electric guitar technique and presumes the user is already of an intermediate standard; it is not designed for raw beginners. Modern Guitar Chord Styles 1 is the book to use if you are a beginner, and is perfect for both acoustic and electric guitar players.
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Being a specialist Electric rhythm-guitar tutor, Modern Guitar Chord Styles 2 is certainly designed for plectrum playing. A medium-hard to hard pick is an essential tool for creating a strong rhythm attack on the beat, and the bright, gutsy tone of most Rock and R&B. Whilst some of the arpeggio material can be interpreted with finger-style, the overall intention of MGCS2 is that you are using a pick to emulate the styles being taught.
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Yes, all the books in the Modern Guitar Chord Styles series include lots of tips for making smooth transitions between various chord shapes. Some tips are general technique stuff whilst others are specific to a particular chord change. These tips all lead you to faster, smoother chord transitions.
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Yes, definitely. If you aspire to a confident performance level on electric guitar Modern Guitar Chord Styles 2 will certainly help prepare your skills for that. MGCS2 ranges from a Grade 3 to Grade 7 level of ability and, if you can play through the exercises in this book in a fluent manner you definitely have enough skills to embark on live performance work.
βTheΒ Modern Guitar Chord Styles seriesΒ soon gets studentsβ chord vocabularies overflowing and playing in so many different musical styles. With these books, learning Rock progressions becomes a breeze and learning pop songs becomes straight forward and effortless! Highly recommended!β
GET STRUMMING WITH MODERN GUITAR CHORD STYLES
Modern Guitar Chord Styles 1 : This is a very helpful book for entry-level players and those who already know the common chords but are still having trouble putting a full song together. If this reflects where you are up to, even just a few weeks of the technique building work in MGCS1 will consolidate your skills and have you putting full songs together with confidence.
