May 1 is International Workers’ Day, a celebration of laborers and the working class around the world.
Musicians and bands throughout time have shown their support for unions and working people through their songs. Here are some songs about workers that you can find tabs for in the Fret Zealot app.
“Working Class Hero” – John Lennon
John Lennon released this anthem about the differences between social classes in 1970 on his first album following the breakup of The Beatles. The song has been covered many times, including by Green Day, Ozzy Osbourne, and Marianne Faithful.
“9 to 5” – Dolly Parton
Country music legend Dolly Parton “poured herself a cup of ambition” with this late 1980 track, written for the film 9 to 5 starring Parton in her film debut. The film follows three working women taking on their company’s sexist vice president. The name of the song and the film come from the 9to5 organization, which was created in 1973 to advocate for fair pay for working women.
“There is Power in a Union” – Street Dogs
Originally written and released by singer/songwriter and activist Billy Bragg in 1986, Street Dogs covered this pro-union song in 2006.
“Working Man” – Rush
Canadian band Rush’s 1974 song “Working Man” helped put them on the map in the United States, as the pro-working class song resonated with audiences in Cleveland, Ohio after getting radio play there.
“Workin’ Man Blues” – Merle Haggard
Released in 1969, “Workin’ Man Blues” pays tribute to the American blue collar worker, who made up a significant part of his fanbase in the late 1960s.
“Sixteen Tons” – Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash released his version of “Sixteen Tons” – a song about a Kentucky coal miner – in 1987. It was written by Merle Travis and recorded in 1946.
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Music has been used for protest for centuries – especially in America. According to the First Amendment Museum, some of the earliest protest songs in the United States were popular songs with altered lyrics to reflect the sentiments of the time, since there was no recording technology available.
When radio, records, and other recording technology in the early 20th century helped bring popular music to the forefront of culture, music became an outlet for expressing protest against racism, sexism, war, pollution, and other systems.
Here are some famous protest songs you can learn with Fret Zealot.
Blowin’ in the Wind
One of legendary American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan’s best-known songs, “Blowin’ in the Wind” became one of the signature tracks of the 1960s and cultural revolution taking place among young people, including the protest against the Vietnam War. The music was derived from the African-American spiritual song, “No More Auction Block.”
Sunday Bloody Sunday
“Sunday Bloody Sunday” is one of iconic Irish rock band U2’s signature songs, and it’s one of their most political songs. The lyrics are from the point of view of “the Troubles” in Northern Ireland, focusing on the “Bloody Sunday” event of 1972 when British military shot and killed unarmed protesters in Derry.
Part of a three-part composition on Pink Floyd’s 1979 album The Wall, “Another Brick in the Wall pt. 2” is a a protest song against corporal punishment and rigid and abusive schooling. The song was used by Black students in South Africa to protest their education under apartheid, leading to the song and its album to be banned there in 1980.
The term “Buffalo Soldier” refers to a member of the Black U.S. cavalry regiment known as the “Buffalo Soldiers, who fought in the Native American Wars (expanding American territories) after 1866. Those soldiers were given less than optimal supplies and even less recognition for their work. Bob Marley linked the fight of those soldiers to a fight for survival, and cast them as a symbol of Black resistance.
While not a traditional protest song, the lyrics of “Crazy Train” reflect the Cold War and the pervasive fear of nuclear annihilation that defined that time period.
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Strumming and fingerpicking are crucial elements of playing rhythm guitar. Both are skills that you can make lots of improvement on with simple practices.
What’s the difference?
Strumming involves hitting multiple strings at the same time to create a rhythmic pattern. You can use your fingers or a pick to strum, and there are multiple patterns you can use to get different sounds, including all downstrokes, all upstrokes, or any combination of up and down.
Fingerstyle involves plucking individual strings with your fingers. Fingerstyle playing often incorporates using the thumb for bass notes and the other fingers for higher notes. This gives you the ability to play complex melodies and harmonies.
You can use a metronome to practice staying in rhythm, or play along with the track to make sure your timing is right. If you’re using a metronome, try starting slower and gradually increase your speed.
Make sure your wrist is loose
Your strumming wrist should be relaxed, not stiff. Nerves can make your muscles stiffen up. Try limbering up before practice with some stretches.
Grip your pick correctly
Hold the pick between your thumb and index finger. Don’t grab it too tight (it can cause your arm muscles to stiffen) and don’t grab it too loosely, because you may drop it. Try out some different pick sizes to see what works best for you.
Count out loud
You can practice saying the beats out loud for strumming patterns – like “1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &”. This will help you understand where the beats should fall.
Your strumming hand should be relaxed and placed so that your fingers naturally fall onto the strings. Your thumb (denoted as p) will handle the bass strings (low E, A, and D), while index (i) plucks the G, middle (m) plucks the B, and ring (a) plucks the high E string. It takes some time to develop this muscle memory, but with regular practice you’ll be on your way!
Let your thumb be independent
Your thumb should be moving differently than your fingers. While holding a chord, try letting your fingers pluck out the melody while you play a bassline with your thumb.
Use a metronome
Just like with strumming, a metronome will make sure that your timing is even, and will build up your rhythm skills.
Stay relaxed
Hand tension will slow you down – especially if your hand cramps up. Try establishing a stretching routine to limber up your hands before you get to practicing.
Try a course
Let the experts walk you through! Acoustic Fingerstyle 1 and 2 will teach you all of the fundamental techniques and ideas you need to become a great fingerstyle guitar player.
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When you’re starting out playing guitar, tablature and chord charts can look like another language. They’re fairly easy to learn and understand – and they’ll make playing guitar so much easier for you.
Chord charts
In a chord chart, the six vertical lines represent the guitar strings, from low E on the left to high E on the right.
The horizontal lines represent the frets, starting with the second one from the top (the top of the fretboard is called the nut).
There will be circles on the fretboard that represent where your fingers go. Sometimes, they will include numbers. Each number corresponds to a finger – 1 for pointer, 2 for middle, 3 for ring, and 4 for pinky.
At the top of the chart, you’ll see Xs and Os. They don’t stand for “kisses and hugs” – they tell you whether or not to play the strings that are “open” – not fretted. X stands for “don’t play” and O stands for “play”.
A sidebar on barre chords
If you see a horizontal line over more than one fret, it represents a barre chord, where you put your pointer finger horizontally across the fret and hold down however many strings are indicated. Sometimes, there will be letters on the right hand of the diagram that says “[number]fr”. This indicates that the barre is played on a certain fret – in this case, the fourth fret, and the circles underneath it are played on the sixth and fifth frets.
Public domain
Barre chords can be challenging, so don’t worry if it takes you a while to master this skill!
Tablature
Tablature makes it easy to play solos, riffs, and other song parts without having to understand sheet music.
Also known as “tabs”, tablature is easy to find for many songs (including in the Fret Zealot app).
A tab consists of a graph with six horizontal lines, each representing a guitar string. The bottom line represents the low E string and the top represents the high E string. Numbers on each line indicate that the string is played, and the numbers correspond to each fret. A zero means that the string is played open.
Tabs are read from left to right, and when multiple numbers are stacked on top of each other, that indicates a chord.
Tablature makes it possible to learn even the most complicated riff simply by reading it.
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Here are some tips for guitar beginners to make sure you get perfect pitch every time.
Pick your tuning device
There are lots of devices to help you tune your instrument. You can use a keyboard or piano to match the notes, or you can use a device like a clip-on tuner or tuning pedal. The Fret Zealot app comes with a digital built-in tuner, making it the perfect on-the-go option to tune your instrument anywhere.
Tune every time you play
There are lots of reasons guitars go out of tune – older strings, environmental conditions, or just playing hard. Even if you don’t think you need to, give your guitar a tune each time you pick it up.
Tune the sixth string first
The sixth string (or low E) has the most tension, and can affect the pitch of other strings when it’s changed due to the increased or decreased tension it puts on the neck.
Tune slowly
You want to tune each string up incrementally. This will ensure that you get the pitch correct while reducing the risk of string breakage.
Tune in a quiet place
The tuner can pick up other sounds, so make sure you’re tuning in a quiet place.
Listen
Even if you’re using a tuner, listen to the pitch of the strings as you loosen or tighten them. This will help you develop your ear.
Repeat
After tuning all the strings, go through them again at least once. Oftentimes you’ll find that certain strings (especially the low E) need to be tuned up again. This is caused by the tightening of the other strings ever so slightly bending your guitar neck, which then loosens the lower strings.
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Whatever your level of experience with guitar is, practice is crucial to level up your skills, or just to stay in shape. Just like having a fitness routine, having a guitar practice routine is a good habit, and will ensure that your guitar skills stick around.
Here’s how to build an effective practice routine:
Define your goals
Do you want to master the guitar solo for “Thunderstruck”? Are you trying to learn a setlist of songs you can perform at an open mic or gig? Having concrete goals can help give you a reason to practice.
Try writing down a list of short-term five goals you’d like to achieve in guitar, like playing an entire song fingerstyle or learning how to read tabs, and long term goals, like playing in public and starting a band. Put it somewhere you can see it to help motivate you to practice.
Break it down
An easy way to make a practice routine feel less daunting is to break it down into small sections. You can set a timer on your phone for each section if you’d like to.
Here’s a sample practice breakdown:
Warm-up (five to ten minutes)
Start with some basic scales or chord changes to warm up your fingers.
Technical Exercises (15-20 minutes):
Play through scales, arpeggios and riffs. You can use a metronome to help with your timing.
Repertoire Practice (15-20 minutes): Practice learning new songs. If you have an issue with a part of the song, break them into smaller parts and play through them slowly, gradually bringing them back up to speed.
Creative or Improvisation Time (five to ten minutes): Let your brain be creative and work on riffs or songs of your own.
Review (five minutes):
Review what you’ve practiced and make a note of what you’d like to improve on or try next time.
You can use the record app on your phone to record your session and hear how you’re sounding. Hearing improvement in your playing is the best feeling!
Keep it fun
Learn what you’re interested in playing, whether it’s classical pieces or the latest trending song on TikTok.
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“Santeria” is also full of SoCal imagery, and will take you to Long Beach wherever you play it!
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Are you celebrating Galentine’s Day this year? If your girl gang is into making music, check out these songs made for jamming out to – that you can learn with Fret Zealot.
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Australian rock band AC/DC formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm and Angus Young, as well as Colin Burgess (drums), Larry Van Kriedt (bass guitar) and Dave Evans (lead vocals). The band went through several line-up changes before releasing their debut album, High Voltage (1975). After the release of Let There Be Rock (1977), the lineup was set with the Young brothers, Phil Rudd on drums, Cliff Williams on bass guitar and Bon Scott on lead vocals. Scott died of alcohol poisoning only seven months after the release of Highway to Hell in 1979. The band tapped English singer Brian Johnson as their new frontman for 1980’s Back in Black – dedicated to Scott’s memory, and the second best-selling record of all time!
Check out these AC/DC songs you can learn with Fret Zealot.
“Highway to Hell” is about the exhausting nature of constant touring, which Angus Young referred to as the “Highway to Hell”. Australia’s Canning Highway also was part of the song’s namesake.
This song was included on AC/DC’s fourth album, 1977’s Let There Be Rock. “Hell Ain’t A Bad Place to Be” also shares its name with a 2012 biography of the band.
One of AC/DC’s most recognizable songs gets its name from a childhood toy of the Young brothers. In the liner notes of The Razor’s Edge 2003 re-release, Young said that they were searching for a name for the song when they came up with the “thunder” motif, based on their childhood toy Thunderstreak. “It seemed to have a good ring to it. AC/DC = Power. That’s the basic idea,” he wrote.
This song begins with the tolling of a bell – an actual, 2,000 lb. bronze bell made by John Taylor & Co. Bellfounders in England. The bell sound was recorded in a mobile studio inside of the bell foundry after the tracking sessions for “Back in Black” were complete.
“All Screwed Up” was featured on AC/DC’s 2000 album Stiff Upper Lip. This album was the last one produced by Malcolm and Angus Young’s older brother George Young, who died in 2017.
One of AC/DC’s most popular songs, “Whole Lotta Rosie’ started off as another song entirely. The main riff was featured on an earlier recording called “Dirty Eyes”, which had a different chorus chord progression and a slower tempo. It was recorded in 1976 for an EP that got scrapped and later recrafted into “Whole Lotta Rosie”.
You might not associate AC/DC with classical literature, but Angus Young said that one of the inspirations for the lyrics of this 1981 track was gleaned from a story by poet and novelist Robert Graves. Young explained that the story was about gladiators in Ancient Rome preparing to fight in the Coliseum, who used the salute “Ave, Caesar, morituri te salutant” (“Hail Caesar, those who are about to die salute you”).
“The Jack” (Australian slang for a venereal disease) was created when Malcolm Young, jamming out with Bon Scott, received a note from a woman who said she contracted it from Malcolm. Bon Scott began teasing Young with a blues riff with the phrase – and “The Jack” was born.
Did you know that “Beatin’ Around the Bush” off of AC/DC’s 1979 album Highway to Hell is a cover? The song was originally recorded by Australian blues, rock and R&B band Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons. It was released in July 1976 and was featured on the soundtrack to the 1976 film Oz.
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Be honest – what’s the last time you changed the strings on your guitar? String mileage varies – some guitar players change them religiously every month, while others allow their strings to get “seasoned” a bit more. Whatever your preference is, here are five signs that it’s definitely time to change your strings:
They look bad
Strings that need to be changed may look dull, tarnished, or pitted. They might also look or feel dirty.
They don’t sound as good as they should
Strings may start to buzz or rattle near the end of their lifetime, and their tone might sound dull or flat.
It hurts to play
Old strings don’t bend as easily as fresh ones, so you might find yourself exerting extra strength to play.
They won’t stay in tune
If you find yourself reaching for a tuner more frequently than usual, it might be time to change your strings. Bear in mind that new strings may take a few days to stretch, so aim to do it a couple of days before any performances if possible.
You have a broken string
Breaks are a sign that it’s time for new strings – so if you have time, restring the entire guitar.
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