Posted on 02/10/2024 7:41:05 PM PST by nickcarraway
The Who. “I Can See For Miles.” It was nothing *but* power chords, and the song that introduced the sound to an entire generation of aspiring rock guitarists.
I listen to a great deal of music. I listen very closely and have created songs for my own amusement, but I’m not a musician per se. I’ve been a visual artist but not a music man. Maybe I was in a previous life. For now? I am not worthy!
“...power chords are played by placing one finger across two or three adjacent strings on the fretboard.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay I gotta crank my nitpicker up to 11 for a second...
What he’s describing isn’t a power chord. A textbook power chord uses two fingers on adjacent strings spaced a fret apart. This gives you the root note plus the fifth on top.
When you do the one finger trick across two strings like he describes, you’re playing the fifth plus the root on top. So the notes are sort of flipped. The sound is similar but isn’t technically a power chord IMO.
The riff in Smoke On The Water uses this kind of flipped, quasi power chord. The classic mistake is to play it with true power chords — an easy mistake to make because it’ll sound similar, but it won’t be quite right. Rick Beato actually has an episode about it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX0IInspcgg
And if you put one finger across three strings then you’ve got the major third involved which is definitely not a power chord. It’s a major triad. An example of this would be the A chord in Rumble by Link Wray.
No wonder I got nowhere trying to learn to play
...But his hair was perfect!
Be careful not to mix scale degrees and chord intervals.
In a chord, the First (or Root) and the Fifth (an interval of a fifth above the Root), are distinct from the scale degrees.
In the Key of C, C is the first scale degree and G is the fifth scale degree but other chords in the scale can be played as power chords. For example, in the key of C, power chords could be played on:
C - (first scale degree) - power chord played as Root C and fifth interval G.
F - (fourth scale degree) - power chord played as Root F and fifth interval C.
G - (fifth scale degree) - power chord played as Root G and fifth interval D.
and so on...
And referenced here:
https://www.guitarworld.com/features/link-wray-rumble-legacy
It's never too late to start it back up.
I highly recommend 'Theory Notebook Complete' by John Brimhall for those not studying Music Theory as part of a full curriculum and even for those who are studying music theory in school.
https://www.amazon.com/Theory-Notebook-Complete-John-Brimhall/dp/158560755X
The Berklee Music Theory books are also good.
https://www.amazon.com/Berklee-Music-Theory-Book-1/dp/0876391102/ref=sr_1_1?crid=COSWOCCYGFT5&keywords=berklee+music+theory&qid=1707632266&s=books&sprefix=berklee+theory%2Cstripbooks%2C88&sr=1-1
Simplest explanation.
Doe Ray Me Fa Sew La Tea Doe
Doe being the First.
Sew being the Fith.
Play both notes cranked on 11 and you have a power cord.
That's true if the guitar is tuned to standard tuning. For alternate tuning, especially for open-string tuning for slide guitar, since it's tuned to fifths, the Root would be on the "E" string and the Fifth would be on the same fret on the "A" string.
For example, a Power Chord with standard Tuning (E-A-D-G-B-E) at the fifth fret would be:
A D G C E A
A# D# G# C# F A#
B E A D G B
...but with Open or Slide tuning such as Open D (D-A-D-F#-A-D) the same A power chord would be played on the 7th fret of both the "E" and the "A" strings.
G D G B D G
G# D# G# C D# G#
A E A C# E A
Keith Richards in particular like to drop the E string to a D and his power chords were on the same fret across adjacent strings.
(three chord rock&roll...)
Also known as a 1-4-5 progression, and usually with a relative minor chord 🎵🎵🎶🎶🎶🎵🎶
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
A substantial number of songs are built around this, in various forms
True you can do one finger power chords if you use non-standard tuning but that’s a special case. I don’t think that’s what the writer is talking about.
Keith Richards is known for using open G tuning on certain songs and removing the low E string altogether. That is, he plays with only 5 strings.
Drop D tuning where you lower the E string a step lets you do one finger power chords, but I don’t think Keith Richards is known for doing that. Do you know a song where he uses drop D?
Of course, it’s not a chord at all since it’s only two notes. It’s an interval.
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