In music, a power chord is a bare fifth usually played on electric guitar. Traditionally the term chord is understood to mean three or more distinct notes, however this usage is well-accepted amongst guitar players. 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, oftentimes with octave doubling. For other uses, see Music (disambiguation). ... The term bare fifth is a musical one, referring to a chord comprising of two notes (and any duplications in different octaves) one fifth apart. ... Two different electric guitars. ... Typical fingering for a second inversion C major chord on a guitar. ... In music, a dyad is any two notes or pitches, more commonly known as an interval. ... In music theory, the term interval describes the difference in pitch between two notes. ... For other uses, see Octave (disambiguation). ...

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. 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. The term synthesiser is also used to mean frequency synthesiser, an electronic system found in communications. ... Synth redirects here. ... This article is about the genre. ... For other uses, see Guitar (disambiguation). ... Hard Rock redirects here. ... Heavy metal redirects here. ... Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ... Traditional Music is a quasi-synonym for folk music. ... This article is about Western art music from 1000 AD to the present. ...

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.

Performance 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. If they are too low, they tend to sound unclear and boomy. When played too high they lack depth and power. Pitch is the perceived fundamental frequency of a sound. ...

Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...

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.

Pete Townshend of The Who is famous for his use of power chords. Won't Get Fooled Again and Baba O'Riley are both good examples of the sound produced. Pete Townshend (born Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend on 19 May 1945 in Chiswick, London), is an award-winning English rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, composer, and writer. ... The Who are an English rock band that formed in 1964. ... For the Farscape episode of the same name, see Wont Get Fooled Again (Farscape episode). ... Teenage Wasteland redirects here. ...

Fingering

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.) Wikibooks Guitar has a page on the topic of Tuning the Guitar Guitar tuning is any of several techniques of pitch adjustment on the individual strings of a guitar in order to achieve a prescribed arrangement of notes from the open (unfretted) strings. ...

 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: Machine Head track listing UK single cover Smoke on the Water is a rock song by British rock band Deep Purple. ... This article is about the rock band. ...

 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||--------------------------7-------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. Dropped D tuning: DADGBe, also known as simply as Drop D, is a guitar tuning style in which the lowest (sixth) string is tuned down a whole tone (dropped) to D rather than E as in standard tuning (EADGBe). ...

As can be seen, they almost never comprise of more than 3 strings in order to maintain the alternating dominant and recessive notes.

 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. Drop D tuning (or simply drop-D) is a guitar tuning style in which the lowest (sixth) string is tuned (dropped) to D rather than E as in standard tuning. ...

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

First hits

Power chords were introduced by Link Wray in his hit 1958 instrumental "Rumble". Wray discovered the power chord during an improvised show in Fredericksburg, Virginia. 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. Link Wray and His Ray Mens The Swan Singles Collection 1963-1967 Fred Lincoln Link Wray Jr (May 2, 1929 – November 5, 2005) was an American rock and roll guitar player most noted for pioneering a new sound for electric guitars in his hit 1958 instrumental Rumble, by Link... See also: 1957 in music, other events of 1958, 1959 in music, 1950s in music and the list of years in music // Events January 28 - Little Richard begins attending classes at Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama February 14 - The Iranian government bans rock & roll because they claim that the form... An instrumental is, in contrast to a song, a musical composition or recording without lyrics or any other sort of vocal music; all of the music is produced by musical instruments. ... Rumble is an influential[1] rock instrumental by Link Wray & His Ray Men. ... Guitar effects are electronic devices that modify the tone, pitch, or sound of an electric guitar. ... Guitar effects are electronic devices that modify the tone, pitch, or sound of an electric guitar. ...

The first hit song built around power chords was "You Really Got Me" by the Kinks, released in 1964 (Walser 1993, p.9): A song which has charted in one of the worlds music charts, or (if a specialist genre of music) had proven popularity. ... You Really Got Me is a rock song written by Ray Davies and performed by his band, The Kinks. ... The Kinks were an English rock group formed in 1963 by lead singer-songwriter Ray Davies, his brother, lead guitarist and vocalist Dave Davies, and bassist Pete Quaife. ... See also: 1963 in music, other events of 1964, 1965 in music, 1960s in music and the list of years in music // Events January 1 - Top of the Pops premieres on BBC television. ...

Download high resolution version (861x130, 4 KB)The Kinks You Really Got Me riff. ...

Early heavy metal bands such as Black Sabbath and Deep Purple also helped to popularize power chords. For other uses, see Black Sabbath (disambiguation). ... This article is about the rock band. ...

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. Pete Townshend (born Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend on 19 May 1945 in Chiswick, London), is an award-winning English rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, composer, and writer. ...

References

• Crawshaw, Edith A. H. (1939). "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.

Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Fredericksburg is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia, 50 miles south of Washington, D.C., and 55 miles north of Richmond, Virginia. ... Robert Walser is a musicologist associated with the new musicology. He is author of Running With the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music, ISBN 0819562602. ...

See also

• Overtone
• Intermodulation

Approximate harmonic overtones on a string An overtone is a natural resonance or vibration frequency of a system. ... Intermodulation or intermodulation distortion (IMD), or intermod for short, is the result of two or more signals of different frequencies being mixed together, forming additional signals at frequencies that are not, in general, at harmonic frequencies (integer multiples) of either. ...

External links

• Guitar Lesson - Various power chord shapes and exercises