For this month’s column, we’re going to focus on a Steel Panther song that is so great and so hooky, it’s pretty much impossible to imagine that it even exists. “Community Property,” from our 2009 album, Feel the Steel, contains a grand total of four chords, which, to me, is a good thing. Simplicity can be great.
For example, I want all of my girlfriends to only have one vagina. That’s enough for me.
FIGURE 1 illustrates the song’s opening chord sequence. The coolest thing about these chords is that they all incorporate the open top two strings, and I only have to move one finger to switch from one chord to the next. When I go from Asus2 to C#m7, I add the ring finger at the fourth fret on the A string. To switch from C#m7 to Bsus4, the index finger moves down to the A string’s second fret while the ring finger moves up to the fourth fret on the D string.
Simple! The quick shifts between Bsus4 and E5 are made by lifting the ring finger while simultaneously barring the index finger across the A and D strings at the second fret. Even simpler!
The chorus section uses the same chords, as shown in FIGURE 2. The song is in the key of E major, so this progression is known as a basic I-IV–V (“one-four-five”) in E. Notice that the E note on the D string and the B note on the G string never move; they stay in the same position for all of the chords. Brilliant, right? I know, because it cost a lot of money to hire the team of songwriters that wrote the song.
Even the bridge section uses the same chords (see FIGURE 3), and this progression is the one I solo on. I’ve gotten more girls on my jock from this one song than you’ve had in your life—and I don’t even know how old you are! FIGURE 4 illustrates the solo, which, overall, is very melodic and is based on the notes of the E major scale (E F# G# A B C# D#).
I end the solo, however, with a very fast tapping phrase. On the top two strings, I use my middle finger to tap at the 19th fret while pulling off between the 16th, 14th and 12th frets. The tap then moves down to the 18th fret, and the lowest fret-hand note moves up to the 13th fret.
Practice this lick slowly and build up the speed because it’s, like, bitchin’ly hard to do. This is the last installment of Man of Steel. Thanks for reading, and I hope you’ve learned nearly as much as I have over the course of these lessons. See you on the road, bitches!
