A power chord (also fifth chord) is a
colloquial
Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the style (sociolinguistics), linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom norm ...
name for a
chord in guitar
music, especially
electric guitar, that consists of the
root note and the
fifth, as well as possibly
octaves of those notes. Power chords are commonly played on
amplified guitars, especially on electric guitar with intentionally added
distortion or overdrive
effects. Power chords are a key element of many styles of
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
, especially
heavy metal and
punk rock.
Analysis
When two or more notes are played through a
distortion process that
non-linearly transforms the audio signal, additional
partials are generated at the sums and differences of the
frequencies of the
harmonics of those notes (
intermodulation distortion). When a typical
chord containing such intervals (for example, a
major or
minor chord) is played through distortion, the number of different frequencies generated, and the complex ratios between them, can make the resulting sound
messy and indistinct. This effect is accentuated as most guitars are tuned based on
equal temperament, with the result that minor thirds are narrower, and major thirds wider, than they would be in
just intonation
In music, just intonation or pure intonation is the tuning of musical intervals as whole number ratios (such as 3:2 or 4:3) of frequencies. An interval tuned in this way is said to be pure, and is called a just interval. Just intervals (and c ...
.
However, in a ''power chord'', the ratio between the frequencies of the root and fifth are very close to the
just interval 3:2. When played through distortion, the intermodulation leads to the production of partials closely related in frequency to the harmonics of the original two notes, producing a more coherent sound. The intermodulation makes the
spectrum
A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of colors ...
of the sound expand in both directions, and with enough distortion, a new
fundamental frequency
The fundamental frequency, often referred to simply as the ''fundamental'', is defined as the lowest frequency of a periodic waveform. In music, the fundamental is the musical pitch of a note that is perceived as the lowest partial present. I ...
component appears an octave lower than the root note of the chord played without distortion, giving a richer, more
bassy and more subjectively 'powerful' sound than the undistorted signal. Even when played without distortion, the simple ratios between the
harmonic
A harmonic is a wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the '' fundamental frequency'', the frequency of the original periodic signal, such as a sinusoidal wave. The original signal is also called the ''1st harmonic'', the ...
s in the notes of a power chord can give a stark and powerful sound, owing to the
resultant tone (combination tone) effect. Power chords also have the advantage of being relatively easy to play (see "
Fingering" below), allowing fast chord changes and easy incorporation into
melodies
A melody (from Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combinati ...
and
riffs.
Terminology
Theorists are divided on whether a power chord can be considered a ''chord'' in the traditional sense, with some requiring a 'chord' to contain a minimum of three degrees of the scale. When the same interval is found in
traditional and
classical music, it would not usually be called a "chord", and may be considered a
dyad
Dyad or dyade may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Dyad (music), a set of two notes or pitches
* ''Dyad'' (novel), by Michael Brodsky, 1989
* ''Dyad'' (video game), 2012
* ''Dyad 1909'' and ''Dyad 1929'', ballets by Wayne McGregor
Other uses ...
(separated by an
interval). However, the term is accepted as a pop and rock music term, most strongly associated with the overdriven electric guitar styles of
hard rock,
heavy metal,
punk rock, and similar genres. The use of the term "power chord" has, to some extent, spilled over into the vocabulary of other instrumentalists, such as
keyboard and
synthesizer players.
Power chords are most commonly notated ''5'' or ''(no 3)''. For example, "C5" or "C(no 3)" refer to playing the root (C) and fifth (G). These can be
inverted, so that the G is played below the C (making an interval of a fourth). They can also be played with octave doublings of the root or fifth note, which makes a sound that is subjectively higher pitched with less power in the low frequencies, but still retains the character of a power chord.
Another notation is ind, designating the chord as 'indeterminate'.
This refers to the fact that a power chord is neither major nor minor, as there is no third present. This gives the power chord a
chameleon
Chameleons or chamaeleons (family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of Old World lizards with 202 species described as of June 2015. The members of this family are best known for their distinct range of colors, bei ...
-like property; if played where a major chord might be expected, it can sound like a major chord, but when played where a minor chord might be expected, it sounds minor.
History
The first written instance of a power chord for guitar in the 20th century is to be found in the "Preludes" of
Heitor Villa-Lobos, a Brazilian composer of the early twentieth century. Although classical guitar composer
Francisco Tárrega used it before him, modern musicians use Villa-Lobos's version to this day. Power chords' use in rock music can be traced back to commercial recordings in the 1950s.
Robert Palmer pointed to
electric blues guitarists
Willie Johnson and
Pat Hare
Auburn "Pat" Hare was a Memphis electric blues guitarist and singer. His heavily distorted, power chord–driven electric guitar performances in the early 1950s is considered an important precursor of heavy metal music. Palmer, Robert (1992). "C ...
, both of whom played for
Sun Records in the early 1950s, as the true originators of the power chord, citing as evidence Johnson's playing on
Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade care ...
's "
How Many More Years" (recorded 1951) and Hare's playing on
James Cotton's "
Cotton Crop Blues" (recorded 1954).
Scotty Moore
Winfield Scott Moore III (December 27, 1931 – June 28, 2016) was an American guitarist who formed The Blue Moon Boys in 1954, Elvis Presley's backing band. He was studio and touring guitarist for Presley between 1954 and 1968.
Rock critic D ...
opened
Elvis Presley's 1957 hit "
Jailhouse Rock" with power chords. The "power chord" as known to modern electric guitarists was popularized first by
Link Wray
Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr. (May 2, 1929 – November 5, 2005) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist who became popular in the late 1950s.
''Rolling Stone'' placed Wray at No. 45 of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. In 2013 ...
, who built on the distorted electric guitar sound of early records and by tearing the speaker cone in his 1958 instrumental "Rumble."
A later
hit song built around power chords was "
You Really Got Me
"You Really Got Me" is a song written by Ray Davies for English rock band the Kinks. The song, originally performed in a more blues-oriented style, was inspired by artists such as Lead Belly and Big Bill Broonzy. Two versions of the song were ...
" by
the Kinks, released in
1964
Events January
* January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved.
* January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...
. This song's
riffs exhibit fast power-chord changes.
The Who's guitarist,
Pete Townshend, performed power chords with a theatrical windmill-strum,
for example in "
My Generation
"My Generation" is a song by the English rock band the Who, which became a hit and one of their most recognizable songs. The song was named the 11th greatest song by ''Rolling Stone'' on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It becam ...
". On
King Crimson's
''Red'' album,
Robert Fripp thrashed with power chords.
[: ] Power chords are important in many forms of
punk rock music. Many punk guitarists used only power chords in their songs, most notably
Billie Joe Armstrong
Billie Joe Armstrong (born February 17, 1972) is an American musician who is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Green Day, which he co-founded with Mike Dirnt in 1987. He is also a guitarist and vocalist for t ...
and
Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein.
Techniques
Power chords are often performed within a single octave, as this results in the closest matching of overtones. Octave doubling is sometimes done in power chords. Power chords are often
pitched in a middle register.
Shown above are four examples of an F5 chord. The letter names above the chords only indicate which different voicing is being used. These letter names should not be mistaken for the chord names typically used in popular music (e.g., C Major, B minor, etc.) A common voicing is the 1–5 perfect fifth (A), to which the octave can be added, 1-5-1 (B). A perfect fourth 5-1 (C) is also a power chord, as it implies the "missing" lower 1 pitch. Either or both of the pitches may be doubled an octave above or below (D is 5-1-5-1), which leads to another common variation, 5-1-5 (not shown).
Spider chords
The spider chord is a
guitar technique popularized during the 1980s
thrash metal
Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...
scene. Regarded as being popularized and named by
Dave Mustaine of
Megadeth, it is used to reduce
string noise when playing (mostly
chromatic
Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize scales, and are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair, ...
)
riffs that require chords across several
strings. The
chord or technique is used in the songs "
Wake Up Dead
"Wake Up Dead" is a song by American thrash metal band Megadeth, and was the lead single from their 1986 album '' Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?'', written by Dave Mustaine. It has since become a staple at their concerts, being their sixth mos ...
", "
Holy Wars... The Punishment Due" and "
Ride the Lightning
''Ride the Lightning'' is the second studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica, released on July 27, 1984, by the independent record label Megaforce Records. The album was recorded in three weeks with producer Flemming Rasmussen at ...
".
["Video Question: Spider Chords"](_blank)
, ''JamPlay.com''.
D5 Bb5
e, -------,
B, -------,
G, -------,
D, -7-----,
A, -5--8--,
E, ----6--,
3 <
1 4 <--Spider chord fingering
2 <
As seen in the above
tab, the two power chords may be played in succession without
shifting, making it easier and quicker,
and thus avoiding string noise. The normal
fingering would be
for both chords, requiring a simultaneous shift and
string change. Note that the two power chords are a
major third apart: if the first chord is the
tonic the second is the minor
submediant. The spider chord fingering also allows access to a
major seventh chord
In music, a major seventh chord is a seventh chord in which the third is a major third above the root and the seventh is a major seventh above the root. The major seventh chord, sometimes also called a ''Delta chord'', can be written as maj7, M7, ...
without the
third
Third or 3rd may refer to:
Numbers
* 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3
* , a fraction of one third
* 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute''
Places
* 3rd Street (disambiguation)
* Third Avenue (disambiguation)
* Hi ...
:
AM7
e, ------,
B, ------,
G, ------,
D, --6---,
A, --7---,
E, --5---,
3
4
2
The spider chord requires the player to use all four fingers of the fretting hand, thus its name. This technique then allows one to run down the
neck
The neck is the part of the body on many vertebrates that connects the head with the torso. The neck supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that carry sensory and motor information from the brain down to the rest of the body. In ...
playing either of the two chords.
Fingering
Perhaps the most common implementation is 1-5-1', that is, the root note, a note a fifth above the root, and a note an octave above the root. When the strings are a fourth apart, especially the lower four strings in
standard tuning
In music, standard tuning refers to the typical tuning of a string instrument. This notion is contrary to that of scordatura, i.e. an alternate tuning designated to modify either the timbre or technical capabilities of the desired instrument.
Vio ...
, the lowest note is played with some fret on some string and the higher two notes are two frets higher on the next two strings. Using standard tuning, notes on the first or second string must be played one fret higher than this. (A bare fifth without octave doubling is the same, except that the highest of the three strings, in parentheses below, is not played. A bare fifth with the bass note on the second string has the same
fingering as one on the fifth or sixth string.)
G5 A5 D5 E5 G5 A5 D5 A5
E, , ----------------------------------------------(10)---(5)----,
B, , --------------------------------(8)----(10)----10-----5-----,
G, , ------------------(7)----(9)-----7------9------7------2-----,
D, , ----(5)----(7)-----7------9------5------7-------------------,
A, , -----5------7------5------7---------------------------------,
E, , -----3------5-----------------------------------------------,
An inverted barre fifth, i.e. a barre fourth, can be played with one finger, as in the example below, from the riff in ''
Smoke on the Water
"Smoke on the Water" is a song by English rock band Deep Purple, first released from the band's sixth studio album ''Machine Head'' (1972), which chronicles the 1971 fire at Montreux Casino.
In a 2004 publication by ''Rolling Stone'' magaz ...
'' by
Deep Purple:
G5/D Bb5/F C5/G G5/D Bb5/F Db5/Ab C5/G
E, , ------------------------, ----------------------,
B, , ------------------------, ----------------------,
G, , *------3—5--------------, -------3—6---5--------,
D, , *--5—3---5--------------, ---5—3---6—5----------,
A, , ---5--------------------, ---5------------------,
E, , ------------------------, ----------------------,
, -----------------------, ---------------------, ,
, -----------------------, ---------------------, ,
, ------3—5---3—0--------, --------------------*, ,
, ---5—3---5—3---0-------, --------------------*, ,
, ---5-------------------, ---------------------, ,
, -----------------------, ---------------------, ,
Another implementation used is 5-1'-5', that is, a note a fourth below the root, the root note, and a note a fifth above the root. (This is sometimes called a "fourth chord", but usually the second note is taken as the root, although it's not the lowest one.) When the strings are a fourth apart, the lower two notes are played with some fret on some two strings and the highest note is two frets higher on the next string. Of course, using standard tuning, notes on the first or second string must be played one fret higher.
D5 E5 G5 A5 D5 A5 D5 G5
E, , -----------------------------------------------5------10----,
B, , ---------------------------------10-----5------3------8-----,
G, , -------------------7------9------7------2-----(2)----(7)----,
D, , -----7------9------5------7-----(7)----(2)------------------,
A, , -----5------7-----(5)----(7)--------------------------------,
E, , ----(5)----(7)----------------------------------------------,
With the
drop D tuning
Drop D tuning is an alternative form of guitar tuning in which the lowest (sixth) string is tuned down from the usual E of standard tuning by one whole step to D. So where standard tuning is E2A2D3G3B3E4 (EADGBe), drop D is D2A2D3G3B3E4 (DADGBe ...
—or any other dropped tuning for that matter—power chords with the bass on the sixth string can be played with one finger, and D power chords can be played on three open strings.
D5 E5
E, , ----------------
B, , ----------------
G, , ----------------
D, , --0-------2-----
A, , --0-------2-----
D, , --0-------2-----
Occasionally, open, "stacked" power chords with more than three notes are used in
drop D
Guitar tunings are the assignment of pitches to the open strings of guitars, including acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and classical guitars. Tunings are described by the particular pitches that are made by notes in Western music. By ...
.
E, , --------------------------5---
B, , --3-------5-------7-------3---
G, , --2-------4-------6-------2---
D, , --0-------2-------4-------0---
A, , --0-------2-------4-------0---
D, , --0-------2-------4-------0---
See also
*
Overtone
An overtone is any resonant frequency above the fundamental frequency of a sound. (An overtone may or may not be a harmonic) In other words, overtones are all pitches higher than the lowest pitch within an individual sound; the fundamental i ...
*
Intermodulation
Intermodulation (IM) or intermodulation distortion (IMD) is the amplitude modulation of signals containing two or more different frequencies, caused by nonlinearities or time variance in a system. The intermodulation between frequency comp ...
*
Electronic tuner
Notes
References
*
Further reading
* Crawshaw, Edith A. H. (1939)
"What's Wrong with Consecutive Fifths?" ''The Musical Times'', Vol. 80, No. 1154. (Apr., 1939), pp. 256–257.
External links
{{Chords
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Guitar performance techniques
Heavy metal performance techniques
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