Guitar Tricks Online Guitar Lessons

The Rockin' Open C

 

Now let me show you how to adapt your C chord to this rock tone, and as soon as you've learned that we'll use it in an example with the G and D chord as well. This is technically a Csus2 chord, but there's no point in getting too theoretical about it, because the players that "invented" it only cared about the sound of the chord, not the technical name.

Anders Mouridsen
Instructor Anders Mouridsen
Tutorial:
Open Chords Rock!
Styles:
Rock
Difficulty:
print notation download lesson open guitar tuner
The Rockin' Open C song notation
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The Rockin' Open C By Anders Mouridsen

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Questions & Answers

1 month ago
Sorry in addition to all the other questions please could you advise if the barre finger simply presses down on the root Whilst lying across the strings like a powerchord to mute the high e string also as demonstrated in B major chord. Is it a good idea when doing the A major one finger barre to press down on the knuckles to flatten the finger, the higher the thumb position also,seems to,help. It is easier to do this with finger two than finger three.
Mike Olekshy 1 month ago

Hello and thanks so much for your questions and suggestions!! In the case of the 6th string barre chord, you have to press the barre finger down across all 6 strings since you want the low string plus the top 2 strings to ring the notes. But in the case of the 5th string major chord (eg. B major), you can fret the 2nd fret of the A string with the index finger, and simply drape the finger across all the other strings, muting the high E string, since it is optional to include the fretted note on the high E string. Hope this helps!

1 month ago
Is Csus 2; D5; G5 major chords
Mike Olekshy 1 month ago

Hello - thanks so much for your questions! Csus2, D5, and G5 are NOT major chords. Csus2 is a "suspended" chord, which means the 3rd of the chord has been replaced by the 2nd. So for C major - the 3rd would be E. In a Csus2, the E has been changed to a D. The quality of the 3rd is the note that determines whether a chord is major or minor. In the case of Csus2 - there is no 3rd - so it is not major nor minor. It is "suspended". D5 and G5 are power chords --- made up of root and 5th. There is no 3rd in a power chord - so these chords cannot be major or minor.

1 month ago
Could I have chord diagrams for all these chords to clearly show the muting C sus 2 D5 G5
Mike Olekshy 1 month ago

Hello - thanks so much for your questions! All chord diagrams can be found here: https://www.guitartricks.com/chords

1 month ago
Why are there so many variations of the C sus 2 chord I am unable to paste in examples of this, with so many variations how do you know which one is the correct one to play. Can you recommend a good amp with effects and pedals that can be used with this Bluetooth amp. Thank you
Mike Olekshy 1 month ago

Hello - thanks for your question! Indeed there are many voicings of the Csus2 chord. The voicing shown in this lesson is probably the most common. Choosing which voicing to play comes down to personal choice, and what fits the musical context the best. As for an amp and pedals - I recommend a tube amp that has a crisp clean sound. You can add effects pedals such as overdrive/distortion for crunch sounds, and a delay pedal to give your guitar sound some depth. Hope this helps!