The AC/DC Method: Beginner

AC/DC is built from a small vocabulary of power chords — usually no more than four or five across an entire song. The difficulty is not in the chord shapes. It is in the timing, the consistency of the downstroke, and the spaces between hits.

This course removes lead playing entirely. No solos. No pentatonic. Only the rhythm guitar — the part Malcolm played. Work in short daily sessions. Twenty focused minutes against a metronome will produce more progress than two hours of unstructured playing. If the timing slips, stop and reset rather than playing through it.

Week 1 — The downstroke

Objective: Build the foundation hit

Content:
· E5 power chord — open position
· Downstrokes only, no upstrokes
· Quarter notes at 80 BPM, against a metronome

Drills:
· Four hits per bar. Four bars. Stop. Restart.
· Each hit must arrive on the click, not before, not after
· Listen for ring-out — every chord should sustain for the full beat

Figure 1.1 · E5 power chord · open position · low strings only — the chord diagram for this figure is in the PDF.

Constraint: No upstrokes. The picking hand returns to the starting position above the strings between hits — it does not stay below. This is the difference between a downstroke pulse and strumming.

Outcome: A steady, even pulse on one chord. The foundation everything else is built on.

Week 2 — Two chords, clean changes

Objective: Move between shapes without dropping the pulse

Content:
· E5 to A5 — alternating each bar
· Then E5 to D5 — alternating each bar
· Same downstroke pattern as Week 1

Drills:
· Four hits on E5, four hits on A5, repeat. 80 BPM.
· The chord change happens during the silent return of the picking hand — not during the hit
· If the change is rushed, slow the metronome to 70 BPM

Figure 2.1 · New chords this week · A5 · D5 · open positions — the chord diagram for this figure is in the PDF.

Constraint: The pulse is not allowed to slow during the change. If it does, the chord change is too late — start preparing the new shape on beat four of the previous bar.

Outcome: Two-chord changes that don't break the pulse. The hand learns to anticipate.

Week 3 — Three chords — the Highway to Hell shape

Objective: Apply the change pattern to a real progression

Content:
· A5, D5, G5 — the three chords behind Highway to Hell
· Two hits per chord, then move
· Tempo: 75 BPM (the original is faster — slow it down)

Drills:
· A5 (x2) → D5 (x2) → G5 (x2) → D5 (x2), repeat
· Each chord rings fully before moving
· Increase to 85 BPM only when the pattern is clean for 60 seconds straight

Figure 3.1 · The movable G5 shape · rooted on low E · slide anywhere — the chord diagram for this figure is in the PDF.

Constraint: Don't try to play along to the recording yet. The recording is at full tempo with a full band. The point this week is the change, not the performance.

Outcome: A recognisable AC/DC progression at a controlled tempo. The first time the course sounds like something.

Week 4 — Eighth notes — the gallop

Objective: Double the pulse without losing accuracy

Content:
· Eighth-note downstrokes on a single chord (E5)
· Eight hits per bar instead of four
· All downstrokes — no upstrokes yet

Drills:
· Start at 70 BPM eighth notes (slow)
· Count: "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and"
· Build up by 5 BPM only when the pulse is even

Constraint: The picking hand will tire. That is the point — Malcolm Young's downstroke endurance was the foundation of his sound. Build it slowly. Stopping when the wrist tightens is correct; pushing through it teaches tension.

Outcome: The pulse gains weight. Each hit is committed, not skimmed.

Week 5 — Syncopation — the held chord

Objective: Hit and hold — let the rest do the work

Content:
· The Back in Black rhythm — E5, then a held silence, then D5 → A5
· Counting rests as carefully as hits
· The space between chords is the rhythm

Drills:
· Hit E5 on beat 1, mute, then hit D5 → A5 on the off-beat
· The off-beat hit is the difficult one — it's where the pulse swings
· Tempo 70 BPM, no faster until the rest sits exactly between hits

Constraint: The rest is part of the riff, not a gap. Mute the strings with the picking hand during the rest — silence is active, not accidental.

Outcome: The rhythm starts to feel like AC/DC instead of generic rock — because of what is not played, not what is.

Week 6 — Palm muting and the chug

Objective: Introduce dynamic contrast

Content:
· Side of the picking hand rests lightly on the bridge
· Muted chords ring shorter and feel tighter
· Alternate two bars muted with two bars open

Drills:
· E5 with palm mute — eighth notes — for two bars
· Then E5 open — quarter notes — for two bars
· The contrast is the goal, not the muting itself

Constraint: Light pressure on the bridge. Heavy pressure kills the chord entirely. The chord should still ring, just shorter and tighter than the open version.

Outcome: Dynamic contrast appears. The same chord can now sound two different ways.

Week 7 — Song study — Highway to Hell verse

Objective: Apply technique inside a real song

Material:
· Highway to Hell — verse and chorus only
· T.N.T. — the main riff (A5 with the "oi" gaps)

Approach:
· Learn the chord sequence first, no rhythm
· Then add the rhythm, slow, against a metronome
· Only play along to the recording when the rhythm is solid alone

Constraint: Do not attempt the solo. Do not attempt the bridge. The rhythm guitar in the verse and chorus contains everything practised in weeks one through six — finishing the song is not the point this week. Recognising the earlier weeks inside it is.

Outcome: Recognition that the earlier weeks were not exercises — they were the song.

Week 8 — Full song — rhythm part only

Objective: Play one song end to end

Task:
· Pick one song: Highway to Hell, Back in Black, or T.N.T.
· Play the rhythm guitar from start to finish, along with the recording
· Record the attempt. Listen back. Re-record once.

Rules:
· Power chords only — no open chords, no leads
· The pulse must not slow during chord changes
· Rests must sit where they should — silence is part of the song
· If the picking hand tires, that is acceptable. Slowing the pulse is not.

Constraint: Do not multitrack. Do not edit. The recording is one continuous take, judged against the original on three things: chord accuracy, timing accuracy, and consistency. The notes are easy. The consistency is the test.

Outcome: A complete AC/DC rhythm part, played start to finish, recognisable as the song.

The full course, with every fretboard and chord diagram drawn out, is in the PDF: download The AC/DC Method: Beginner. Free, no email asked.