Talk:Power chord

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Contents 1 First? 2 Thanks 3 Distortion 4 Definition - Pitch classes or notes 5 confused 6 Tablature 7 rumble 8 Power Chord History 9 Is this a power chord? 10 [Untitled]

[edit] First?

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

"Rumble", Link Wray, 1957. Skyraider 20:07, 30 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Interesting article in today's (12/20/2005) paper, "Fredericksburg Offered up Fertile Spot for Rock's Roots". Who would've thunk that humble little Fredericksburg, VA was the site were Link Wray originally came up with "Rumble" and the power chord! That article stated it was 1958 that he wrote and recorded the song. I'll fix it in the main article. Also to add - I added a link to that news article in the source, as it contains some very interesting information on the history of the Power Chord and Link Wray himself. If somebody else does not think it is appropriate, I will not shed any tears if it was taken back out. --SkiBumMSP 20:50, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Thanks

Thank you for an informative article. I'm curious if anyone knows the specific reason a power chord is called a power chord (that is, the reason for the power part, not the chord part). -- 66.82.9.68

The latest re-write should answer your question adequately. (October 10 2005) -- 84.65.191.174

Yes, you answered my question. Thanks. -- 66.82.9.56

[edit] Distortion

Who says that a bare fifth played without dist isn't a power chord? According to this definition, the first 7 seconds of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" aren't powerchords, despite the fact that they're identical to the rest of the song. Sounds strange to me... --Army1987 14:09, 28 October 2005 (UTC)

But that's the point. They're not really identical. After 7 seconds those bare fifths are transformed into true power chords by adding power and distortion. The contrast is stunning as Nirvana clearly intended. Hearing those power chords directly after the 'musically identical' opening sequence of bare fifths is the perfect demonstration of what the 'power' in power chord means.

But those opening Nirvana chords could very well be classed as power chords too, if you feel that they convey enough sense of power to justify the name. It's all subjective - unlike the meaning of 'bare fifth' which, being a true musical term, is purely objective and has a strict definition.

The point is that all power chords are essentially bare fifths (or fourths) and are notated as such (e.g. C5, etc.) - but not all bare fifths (or fourths) deserve to be called power chords. (30 october 2005)

I'll have to change the bare fifth article, then. --Army1987 20:11, 30 October 2005 (UTC)

(However, by my own taste I would consider any bare fifth with octave doubling of the bass note "powerful" enough to be called this way...)

seconded. i, as a guitarist, never thought of a power chord as anything more than a fifth played on a guitar. if someone referred a to clean fifth as such, i can't think of some pedantic guitar purist (and i know a few) who would correct him. pete townshend, for example, used no distortion in his early career with the who, but used power chords, as per the article. anyway, "distortion" is highly subjective itself. is there an outside reference anyone can give me defining a power chord as such? Joeyramoney 21:01, 11 June 2006 (UTC)

I don't think you'll find any definitive outside reference on this because the term 'power chord' is not a musical term, it's a cultural term. There is a link on the article's page that gives some good background on the 'birth' of the power chord in Friedericksburg in 1958.

Power chords date back to that time but guitarists have been playing bare fifths for hundreds of years. Were they playing power chords? Of course not. I can't imagine any review of a concert by the classical guitarist Julian Bream praising his deft use of power chords.

Apart from that link, I can maybe offer some further insights from personal experience. While I'm not old enough to remember the birth of bare fifths, I was around for the birth of power chords. And I can tell you that their arrival was greatly welcomed by thousands of electric guitarists. Suddenly we had a means of producing amazingly powerful sounds with nothing extra but an amp and bare fifths and fourths. They were certainly a badge of 'power' amongst we electric guitarists who were embracing the new technology of (reasonably priced) overdriven amplification. We felt that power chords belonged exclusively to us and we guarded the term jealously. No classical or folk guitarists would ever dare call their bare fifths, power chords. They'd have been laughed off the stage.

And you're right - nobody would be pedantic enough to say that a clean fifth wouldn't be a power chord in certain contexts. We often practised power chord sequences with the amp unplugged or on acoustics - and nobody would be stupid enough to maintain that our practice was invalid as the power chords without distortion were technically bare fifths. The question simply never arose.

As for Pete Townshend's early use of them, they may sound clean and undistorted to your modern ears - but at the time they were distorted enough to be called power chords. Yes - the perception of distortion is subjective. That's why 'power chord' is a cultural term, not a musical definition. Pete Townshend, incidentally, cites Link Wray and his discovery of power chords as a major influence on his career. (Tom > June 13th 2006)

i don't want to ruin this article, but i think that defining a power chord as being distorted per se is very original research-y, even by your own admission. i think that we should reword a few sentences to reflect what most people would define a "power chord" as- a very subjective term referring to fifths played on an electric guitar, preferrably with distortion, and reflect usage and playing style etc. hm, come to think of it, this is awfully sticky. i'm not sure what exectly this article should contain. well, i'll just keep out of this until i can get a better idea of what it should read. Joeyramoney 04:35, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Definition - Pitch classes or notes

I agree that describing a power chord as comprising 'two notes' sounds more 'reader friendly' than the previous edit of 'two pitch classes' but it could give the false impression that the chord can only have two notes at most. Strictly speaking, with octave doubling the chord can contain more than two notes (as the examples show) but it can't have more than two pitch classes. As a description, I would go with 'two notes' but as a definition 'two pitch classes' is more accurate and definite. (27 Nov 2005 Thailand)

Agree with who? The beauty of internal links is that if you don't know a term you can just read about it. Hyacinth 10:42, 27 November 2005 (UTC)

Actually it was a polite way of disagreeing with the person who changed 'pitch classes' to 'notes' while implying in his edit summary that the term sounded too 'Schoenbergian' for humble guitar chords. I only agreed insofar as the term 'notes' sounds more reader friendly than 'pitch classes'. But the terms are NOT synonymous and I believe 'pitch classes' (which had a link to the relevant article) was the correct term and shouldn't have been changed. (27 November 2005)

[edit] confused

I'm not into guitars or the science of music but i was interested in what a power chord is. i found this article really confusing. it would be great if it could be written with simpler words and definitions. or maybe just an added segment with a brief definition for people who are new to this. 68.254.165.242 15:25, 2 January 2006 (UTC)

I second that. What would be even better is if a list of examples was included. --222.106.197.53 10:55, 12 January 2006 (UTC)

Without relying on music theory or the science of amplification, it is very difficult to explain what a power chord is. To be overly simplistic, a power chord occurs when an electric guitarist plays two different notes at the same time and it sounds "good" despite being heavily distorted. It is much easier to give examples. Consider some popular rock songs that begin with electric guitar: Foreigner's "Hot Blooded", Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water", INXS' "Need You Tonight", and Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Under The Bridge". "Hot Blooded" and "Smoke on the Water" begin with power chords. "Need You Tonight" and "Under The Bridge" do not. A power chord is formed by playing a note on one of the three lower-pitched strings of a guitar and at least one other note. The other note must be on the next higher pitched string at the same fret, or, more commonly, two frets higher. In addition, the electric guitar's signal must be overdriven, either by a preamp or by some sort of signal processor designed for this purpose. A distortion pedal would be an example of such a signal processor. Playing power chords is not very challenging, even for a beginning guitarist. The sound, however, seems to overflow with energy. There you have it. I'm not sure how this could be reworded to be encyclopedic, though. --Trweiss 06:47, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

Part of the problem may be the incorrect definition given. Are power chords euphonious (defined at Euphony as "flowing and aesthetically pleasing speech")? Hyacinth 11:02, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

I looked up 'euphony', and 'euphonious' at oneline.com - which searches about 20 online dictionaries simultaneously, and those that I checked agree that 'euphony' and its adjective 'euphonic' mean as you quoted. 'Euphonious', however, has acquired a much wider usage, and it's most common meaning is "pleasing or agreeable sound". I'm still not sure I like it though, as it reminds me of brass bands rather than rock guitarists. Trweiss's phrase, on the other hand, is superb: "overflows with energy" - I wish we could fit that in somehow. (Mark 14-April-06)

As for "the signal must be overdriven", read the discussion above. I agree that I would not call a bare fifth in classical music a powerchord, but the chords I was playing last Tuesday when covering "Heroes" by David Bowie (I was playing the rhythm guitar part) were definitively power chords, even if I couldn't have any dist because we had not enough many amps and had to plug my jack directly into the mixer. IMO we better say something like "In rock music, a powerchord is [...]; they are usually played with some distortion or overdrive." --Army1987 20:06, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Tablature

The tablature examples need to be formatted "so that they can comfortably be displayed on 800x600 monitors" as required of images (Wikipedia:Image_use_policy#Size). Hyacinth 11:12, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

Done. --Army1987 13:09, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. Hyacinth 13:39, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] rumble

according to guitar tabs i've seen, "rumble" by link wray doesn't feature a single power chord- just major chords and a 7th or two. it's such a common conception, though, can anyone give me a link for this? Joeyramoney 04:37, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

I don't hear any true power chords in it either... --Msgohan 21:03, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, no power chords as far as I can tell. --LifeEnemy 03:32, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

according to [1] and every other tab in the universe, it has none. i have no clue why this is in the article. 67.172.61.222 01:11, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Power Chord History

the power chord history in this artical is inacurate, glaringly so.The power chord technique of omitting the third in a major or minor chord, was in use as early as the 1600's. In music theory of the Common Practice period this technique is refered to as an Empty fifth and as I said before has been used on piano at least since the 1700's. This also refers to the stament that the power chord has been a more recent addition to the technique of keyboard players.If anyone has time to fix this error please feel free. Other wise I will fix it when I get some time, thank you.--Anthraxrulz 06:17, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

No, you've misunderstood. Of course bare fifths or 'empty fifths' have been around for centuries. In fact, even before the 16th century they were an essential component of the first attempts at harmonised part singing, known as organum.

But these were NOT power chords. If you read the article, you'll see that the term "Power Chord" is very much a twentieth century cultural term introduced by electric guitarists on their discovery that ancient 'empty fifths' + modern overdriven amplification produced a hitherto unheard of phenomenon, aptly described by the term 'power chord'.

As for keyboards, the article clearly states that the term 'power chord' has recently spilled over into keyboard usage. That's the term, not the technique. Of course, keyboard players have played bare fifths since the 17th century and earlier, but don't you think it would sound ridiculous to talk about the dainty opening power chord sequence of a Handel harpsichord minuet? The words "dainty" and "power chord" just don't belong in the same sentence. There are plenty of bare fifths in Handel's music - there are no power chords.

So please don't change anything unless it's to add new and accurate information. Mark (29 July 2006)

I haven't misunderstood anything I simply feel that it is worth noteing the fact that historically the power chord was created by, as you said applying the empty fifth(this is the correct term in music theory and not just some term I made up as you implied)and adding overdrive to it. I was in no way implying that simply playing an empty fifth on say a piano was the same as playing a power chord. But when you look at the basic structure of a power chord(root/fifth)it is an empty fifth regardless of how you alter the electronic signal with overdrive. Also I'm aware that the root/fifth sounded simultaneously as a vocal harmonization(it is widely considred the first harmonization) was used in chants of the medieval church. I also sugest that you read up on Counterpoint, Organum and Polyphonic contrapuntal part writing as these are important developments in not just music theory and music of the common practice period, but also any almost type of modern music in the western world. I sugest that you also look into not just the composers of the baroque period but the classical and romantic as well, as Handel was not the only composer to use the empty fifth cadence to powerful effect. As for the section of the artical on keyboards you are correct the artical does say the term power chords. My only point is that we need to include some historical imformation about the relationship between the empty fifth and the power chord,however in the artical about fifths this is explained very well and I feel now that to do the same in this artical would be redundent so if there were some kind of link between the two then I think that would actually be better.--Anthraxrulz 08:12, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Can I take it that you are no longer asking anyone to correct what you at first perceived as a 'glaring' error regarding the history of power chords? Now it seems that you are simply asking for a link to the 'fifth' article so that anyone can further research the harmonic structure of power chords. But that link is already there, at the top of the article - where it should be. That article (perfect fifth), also contains historical reference to the use of bare fifths, as well as a reference and a link to 'power chord' accurately and informatively supplied by user 'Army 1987'. And that's exactly where you would expect to find reference to the historical use of bare fifths. The power chord article should discuss the history of power chords. It is not the place to discuss the historical use of bare fifths - that's why a link was provided.

I'm not sure why you suggest I should read about counterpoint, organum, etc. Do you feel my knowledge in those areas is lacking? That's surprising, as it was I who brought to your attention that the practice of organum employed bare fifths long before the 17th century that you quoted.

As to why you feel I should study the works of composers other than from the baroque period, you seem to think I was suggesting that Handel was the only composer whose music contains bare fifths. I'm sure anyone else reading my previous comments will understand that Handel was chosen purely as a familiar example of any of a huge number of composers who have used bare fifths.

Finally - your contention that the term 'empty fifth' is more correct than 'bare fifth' or 'open fifth' in music theory is simply wrong. In fact, there's no single definitive term for this note combination. The term 'empty fifth' does exist and is valid, however the terms 'bare fifth' and 'open fifth' are generally preferred and certainly more commonly used. (A Google search on 'music theory "open fifth" will confirm it is the most popular term). That's why the 'fifth' article used the terms open fifth and bare fifth - with no mention of 'empty fifth'. - Mark 01 August 2006

I'm changing the article so that it more or less read "A power chord is how a bare fifth is called in rock music" or something like that. --Army1987 22:21, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Those changes are pretty good Army - just a few adjustments needed such as saying that bare fifths can be found in classical music. That goes without saying - as they are found in ALL music. Also the ukulele isn't a good example of a 'classical instrument' - That instrument was chosen in the first place to show the absurdity of talking about power chords in the context of ukulele playing. All in all - good changes. Mark 01/Aug/06

In fact, "classical" was too broad a term for what I really meant, and it was changed to "European classical" which is even stricter. Saying "traditional and classical music" now can include music played on ukuleles without sounding strange. --Army1987 09:34, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

First I would like to truly thank you for your mature behavior in this discussion of this artical and would also like to say I am very satisfide with the artical now. However I feel some clarifcation is in order, First I was only sugesting that to make any informed anlysis of music you must look at where it fits in the history of music, clearly you have a firm grasp on this concept. Second nothing new was brought to my attention regarding the history of chants and the use of bare or empty fifth in them, my reason for not including this was because it was a devise used in vocal harmonization and not was not widely used in instrumentation until around the 17th century. Third I see now why you choose Handle and in understanding that see it as a valid example. Fourth I understand that bare,open and empty fifth are all exepted terms, I simply misunderstood what you were saying and felt the need to validate the use of the term empty fifth as it is the term I have most commonly heard in my years of college level study of music. I also aplogize for any personal attack you may have felt and again thank you for your maturity.--Anthraxrulz 04:52, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for that - and no apologies necessary. We've all got the same aim of constantly improving the quality of articles, and healthy debate and discussion are essential to achieving that. Keep up the good work. (Mark - 01 Aug 06)

[edit] Is this a power chord?

As shapes like these considered power chords?

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

If so, they should probably be mentioned in their own right, since, in my experience, they are among the top three most used power chords for metal, along with the perfect fifth and the perfect fourth. I think one of the tabs in the article has this shape in it, also. --LifeEnemy 03:54, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

I put it in the article. --LifeEnemy 03:22, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] [Untitled]

It might be noted that ( on guitar ) if one plays forths on the b and e strings we get oriental sounds.

no, we don't. and no one has any clue what the hell you mean by "oriental sounds". 67.172.61.222 01:12, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Fourths can sound oriental, but not when played as power chords. If you feel the oriental sound of fourths is worth mentioning, it would be more appropriate to do so in the article perfect fourth. (Mark 30 September 2006)

I might ask for a rewrite of:

The consecutive fifths criticism The criticism sometimes levelled at the use of consecutive power chords is that that they violate an important rule of harmony. This rule prohibits the use of consecutive fifths or octaves in certain situations. It applies to the common practice period of classical music, in which chords, originally, were formed as the result of individual parts, such as voices, combining. Following the principle known as voice leading, the individual parts maintain their identities throughout, but if the interval of a fifth or octave is sounded consecutively between any two parts, their individuality may be momentarily lost. This was considered to result in a weakness of harmonic texture and was studiously avoided, especially in the earlier part of this period.

Power chords are not composed of independent parts that happen to coincide. The component parts depend on each other to produce the required sonority and the presence of consecutive octaves and fifths when the chords are heard in succession is seen merely as doubling - a technique often applied in classical music as a way of strengthening or 'colouring' parts that are not being contrasted against each other in harmony.

but I can't quite explain why right now. Perhaps it's like you are explaining two or more things at once,... trying to say too much at once.. a mouthful? and in the next paragraph

three frets higher than the bass note.

surely you mean two???? the first of three frets would not be higher, it would be the same fret... as D string 0th fret is D and G string 0th fret is G, D string first fret is D#, G string first fret is G#, D string Second fret is E and G string secnd is A.

or have I had one too many. Thanks for the article- Wblakesx 07:29, 30 September 2006 (UTC)wblakesx

aDDENDUM-tHE PHENOMEN "POWER CHORD' IS [OPPS CAPS LOCK;)] vis a vis mere fiths is easily understood but you have to take a step back into tonal theory. I got from Helmholtz, " On the Sensation of Tone", that when two ( or more) notes are played together there are at Least 4 combination tones ( it was awhile back, I don't remember if this included the origional two ) and difference tones. at a low volume they might be inaudible BUT AT HIGH VOLUME PALIN TO HEAR AND AS THE VOLUME RISES EVEN MORE TONES BECOME AUDIBLE. And if one perhaps bends one or both strings?

glad to be of help —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Wblakesx (talk • contribs).

This comment is hard to follow. --LifeEnemy 18:54, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

Oh, but this I understand what you mean here:

three frets higher than the bass note.

The article says that's for on the fourth or third string. That's becaue the B string isn't tuned five semitones (frets) higher than the G string, but only four, so you have to play 3 frets above the bass note to get the proper interval when playing both of those strings. --LifeEnemy 19:01, 30 September 2006 (UTC)