From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In music, a power chord is a bare fifth usually played on electric guitar with distortion. While the term is well understood amongst guitar players, chords are traditionally understood to be composed of three (or more) distinct notes, while power chords contain only two. Therefore, many non-guitar players would consider a power chord to be a dyad or simply a harmonic interval. However, a power chord is conceived of and intended to be a minor or major triad with the third degree omitted.

Although the use of the term power chord has, to some extent, spilled over into the vocabulary of other instrumentalists, namely keyboard and synthesizer players, it remains essentially a part of rock guitar culture and is most strongly associated with the overdriven electric guitar styles of hard rock, heavy metal, punk rock, and similar genres. While the term "power chord" is used to refer to a harmonic perfect fifth in a literal sense, with or without octave doubling, and its inversion may appear to be a harmonic perfect fourth, this is an incorrect interpretation (see Harmonic Implications). However, when the same interval is found in traditional and classical music, the harmonic interpretation will be much more varied, not necessarily implying a triad with the third degree omitted.

Power chords are sometimes notated 5, as in C5 (C power chord), in which case it specifically refers to playing the root and fifth of the chord, in this case C and G, possibly inverted, and possibly with octave doublings.

Contents 1 Definition and background 1.1 Harmonic Implications 2 Performance techniques 3 Fingering 4 First hits 5 Sources 6 See also 7 External links 8 References

The term 'power chord' refers to the sonic effect of a harmonic perfect fifth or perfect fourth interval, often being distorted through an overdriven amplifier or an electronic processor such as a fuzz box. Even normally consonant major and minor chords can sometimes sound dissonant and unstable when a high level of distortion is introduced. When minor or major chords are used with distortion, the relative intensities of each note's overtone series combine by non-linear intermodulation to form unpredictable sum and difference frequencies, which results in dissonance. Therefore, Rock guitarists often use the power chord because it allows for much greater levels of distortion without causing the inharmonicity that including the third interval played at similarly high distortion levels would. Removing the third from triads to eliminate unwanted sonic effects from distortion has harmonic ramifications, as power chords are ambiguous, having no intrinsic quality, although quality is often implied (see below).

According to an article in the Free Lance-Star, the power chord was pioneered by rock and roll guitarist Link Wray ([1]). Blues guitarist Elmore James used power chords with distortion in the late 1950s, in the song "I Need You".

Despite power chords' intrinsic harmonic ambiguity, the relationship between the root and the tonic may imply a diatonic or modal function, depending on context. For example, in a song written in C Major, an F5 may be perceived as an F Major chord with the major third simply unvoiced, while an E5 may be perceived as being an E Minor chord with the minor third merely unvoiced. However, in the absence of defining melody notes, many chord progressions voiced as power chords will be harmonically ambiguous as a whole. For example, many songs are comprised strictly of I-IV-V chords in various arrangements, especially in styles where power chords are common. C-F-G, which would be I-IV-V in C Major or C Mixolydian or I-IV-bVII in G Mixolydian, only needs to establish the tonic to clarify the harmonic picture (the distinction between C Major and C Mix being immaterial). Voiced as C5-F5-G5, F could realistically be the tonic as well, making possible 1) I-IV-V in C Minor or C Dorian, 2) I-II-V in F Major, F Minor, F Dorian, or 3) I-IV-bVII in G Minor, G Dorian, or G Phrygian. In this case, establishing the tonic, while clarifying between I-IV-V, I-II-V, and I-IV-bVII, doesn't eliminate major/minor ambiguity by itself. This allows power chord progressions to be more liberally re-used (at the risk of them being more generic) and also allows melodies to freely modulate between minor and major feels as well.

The fact that power chords can be more easily recombined around different tonics also makes it possible to enact key changes while continuing to play the same chords. Using the possibilities outlined above, it would be possible to have the verses of a song in C Major, the choruses in F Minor, and the bridge in G Dorian, all utilizing the same C5, F5, and G5 chords, in different sequences and combinations. However, in that case, despite the fact that the power chords are the same, they would be heard as having different qualities due to their changing function with respect to the tonic. In the verses, each chord would be perceived as being a major chord, while in the verses they would each be perceived as being minor, while during the bridge, the G5 would be perceived as minor while the C5 and F5 would be perceived as major. Finally, while power chords are generally thought of as omitting the third from a major or minor triad, the fact the the third is missing allows solos or the melody to use the eleventh without the rhythm section having to accommodate by playing suspensions.

While on paper it may seem that power chords, like augmented triads, have no inversions, such that the lowest pitched note is perceived as the root, in actuality, power chords are intended to be triads with the third omitted. Therefore, a power chord voiced as C-F-C would not be utilized or interpreted as a C4(omit 5) chord (ie a suspension with the fifth degree omitted), but instead would be considered an F/C (omit 3) chord, or more simply, an F5/C chord--in other words, an F triad inverted over its fifth with the third degree omitted. Of course, if another instrument (like the bass guitar) were playing an F in a lower register, then C-F-C would be merely a choice of voicing for the F5, not an inversion.

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. If they are too low, they tend to sound unclear and boomy. When played too high they lack depth and power.

Shown are four examples of an F5 chord. 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.

A well-known guitarist who is associated with the power chord is Pete Townshend of The Who, famous for loudly smashing out power chords on his guitar with a full roundhouse swoop of his arm, reminiscent of a windmill (Oddly, Townshend believed for many years that he had stolen his 'windmill' technique from another artist). Many songs by The Who feature power chords, including Baba O'Riley and Won't Get Fooled Again (both written by Townshend himself).

On a standard tuned guitar, power chords with the bass note on the sixth or fifth string are played with one or two fingers pressing the next two higher strings two frets higher. If the bass note is on the fourth string, the little finger plays the note an octave above the bass three frets higher than the bass note. (Obviously 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.)

     E5      F5      A5      B5      D5
E||--------------------------------------|
B||---------------------------------(3)--|
G||-----------------(2)-----(4)------2---|
D||-(2)-----(3)------2-------4-------0---|
A||--2-------3-------0-------2-----------|
E||--0-------1---------------------------|

     E5      G5      A5      B5      C5
|-----------(3)-----(5)------2-------3-----
|---(5)------3-------5-------0-------1-----
|----4-------0-------2---------------------
|----2-------------------------------------
|------------------------------------------
|------------------------------------------

An inverted bare fifth, i.e. a bare fourth, can be played with one finger, as in the example below, from the riff in Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple:

     G5/D Bb5/F C5/G   G5/D Bb5/F Db5/Ab C5/G
E||------------------------|----------------------|
B||------------------------|----------------------|
G||*--0---3---5-----------|---0---3---6---5----|
D||*--0---3---5-----------|---0---3---6---5----|
A||------------------------|----------------------|
E||------------------------|----------------------|

|-----------------------|---------------------||
|-----------------------|---------------------||
|--0---3---5---3---0---|--------------------*||
|--0---3---5---3---0---|--------------------*||
|-----------------------|---------------------||
|-----------------------|---------------------||

Another common variation is to add a low fifth to a standard (1-5) power chord

E||----------------------------------9---|
B||--------------------------8-------7---|
G||------------------5-------5------(6)--|
D||--2-------4-------3------(5)----------|
A||--0-------2------(3)------------------|
E||-(0)-----(2)--------------------------|

With the drop D tuning, power chords with the base 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.

E||--7-------1-------0-------6-------5---
B||--7-------3-------3-------6-------5---
G||--7-------3-------2-------6-------2---
D||--9-------1-------0-------4-------2---
A||--9-------1-------0-------4-------0---
D||--9-------1-------0-------4-------0---

Power chords were introduced by Link Wray in his hit 1958 instrumental "Rumble". Before "Rumble", electric guitars were commonly used to produce clean sounds and jazz chords. Wray pioneered electric guitar distortions, like overdrive and fuzz, and was the first guitarist to use power chords to play a song's melody.

The first hit song built around power chords was "You Really Got Me" by the Kinks, released in 1964 (Walser 1993, p.9):

Early heavy metal bands such as Black Sabbath and Deep Purple also helped to popularize power chords.

Pete Townshend, having been influenced by Link Wray, is often credited for introducing the term and the power chord in general and is an avid user of them.

• Crawshaw, Edith A. H. (1939). [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0027-4666%28193904%2980%3A1154%3C256%3AWWWCF%3E2.0.CO%3B2-G "What's Wrong with Consecutive Fifths?". The Musical Times, Vol. 80, No. 1154. (Apr., 1939), pp. 256-257.
• Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star. Fredericksburg, VA "Fredericksburg Offered up Fertile Spot for Rock's Roots" December 20, 2005.
• Walser, Robert (1993). Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music. Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 0-8195-6260-2.

• List of major chord shapes for guitar
• Overtone
• Intermodulation

• Guitar Lesson - Various power chord shapes and exercises

Chords
By Type	Triad	Major · Minor · Augmented · Diminished · Suspended
	Seventh	Major · Minor · Dominant · Diminished · Half-diminished · Minor-major · Augmented major · Augmented minor
	Extended	Ninth · Eleventh · Thirteenth
	Other	Sixth · Augmented sixth · Altered · Added tone · Polychord · Quartal and quintal · Tone cluster· Power
By Function	Diatonic	Tonic · Dominant · Subdominant · Submediant
	Altered	Borrowed · Neapolitan chord · Secondary dominant · Secondary subdominant