Guitar skills: Hard rock and metal bands will often use drop D tuning (drop C# and drop C too). The sus2 chord is a basic powerchord with a major 2nd interval added. We also find the root and 5th doubled in some chords, expanding the shapes potentially over two octaves or more and giving a fatter, more ‘post grunge’ sound than the common or garden powerchord.
Try out the chords with this track
Here we take the classic drop D one-finger powerchord and extend it into bigger fatter sounding shapes. Try to make more out of the interwoven melody of bar 1.
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Check out more of our guitars lessons with chords
“A well-crafted sequence is successful wherever you may wish to use it”: Use these tried and tested chord progressions to build an engaging song
“Sometimes you don't want to be overtly happy or sad and a suspended chord strikes that perfect balance”: How to understand and use suspended chords effectively
