How to play Brain Stew by Greenday
Easy power chord song with rests and the Greenday song Brainstew
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In this lesson we will look at the power chord and the Greenday song called Brain Stew!
Don't worry about reading music. The musiclearning.com beat by beat breakdown will have you playing this in no time and learning a thing or two about written music 🙂
Let's Get Started - The Power Chord
The power chord is not really a chord at all as far as the definition of a chord is concerned. A chord is defined as 3 or more notes however a power chord can be just two. A power chord consists of the root (name of power chord) and a perfect 5th higher.
Measure 1
Measure 1
- Moving the power chord
- Rests
Now let's work on moving the power chord from one to another. The nice thing about a power chord is we always play it the same way. You don't have to worry about moving your fingers around. The opposite really, we need to keep our fingers holding the same shape and move the shape around.
A5
G5
Measure 1 and 2 (Skipping the last E5)
And again another half step to F5 in 1st position.
I like this example because it has us playing the whole 2 measure riff. We are skipping the last E power chord but it still sounds great without it. If you find yourself trying the full thing with the E5 and it causing trouble then you may want to come back and play this one more.
Gb5
F5
Quick Switch - F5 to E5 - Measure 2 - Beat 3 and 4
Note that between or F5 and E5 there is not a quarter note rest. Only the shorter eighth note rest. So that means a quicker switch between these two chords.
Also note that there is no one measure pick up. You will just get two clicks on beat 1 and 2 and then start on 3.
F5
E5
Let's Put It All Together
Standard Notation
This diagram to the right is standard notation and tells exactly which form of an A power chord to use. Quite often when written this way it would have the chords written above the notes like in the example above.
The Power Chord
A power chord is written as a letter and 5. So as we said above the power chord can be just two notes. The root (which is the note in the name, for ex.
A power chord is written as a letter and 5. So as we said above the power chord can be just two notes. The root (which is the note in the name, for ex.
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Hi, my name is Teague. 🙂 I love music. I love guitar. And I love sharing my knowledge and helping others gain the same excitement I have for the instrument and learning!
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