CH-004 • Power Chords (Part 1)

[samkel123]

Hi on these powerchords i can finger them all right and mute the bottom three strings.Yet when i strum it sounds rubbish and i can hear the muted strings thud. I am playing it on an acoustic guitar as i have not quite got enough money for an electric guitar yet. Could this be the problemor ami doing something wrong. Also on the 5th fret 5th string no matter how close tothe end of the fret and how hard i push my finger down the string willmake a horriblesound when it is picked or strummed hardly.Please someone help!

[Tourniquet]

Hi on these powerchords i can finger them all right and mute the bottom three strings.Yet when i strum it sounds rubbish and i can hear the muted strings thud. I am playing it on an acoustic guitar as i have not quite got enough money for an electric guitar yet. Could this be the problemor ami doing something wrong. Also on the 5th fret 5th string no matter how close tothe end of the fret and how hard i push my finger down the string willmake a horriblesound when it is picked or strummed hardly.Please someone help!

Power chords are mostly a distorted electric guitar thing. you can play them on an acoustic but there isn't much point to it.
with a distorted electric a full 3 note chord can sound indistinct and messy, but playing it as a 2 note chord simplifies it enough that it sounds distinct and full.
With an acoustic a 2 note chord prettymuch sounds empty

as for the 5th fret issue, if it only appears at that fret and on that string I'd say the 6th fret has a high spot. it would take professional attention to fix, but if that is truly the only location with an issue they might be willing to do a quick and cheap targeted job. phone around your local luthiers to see if any of them are reasonable.

[boerni]

hi there,
i have a question concerning the fingering. is it ok to use fingers 1,2 and 3. it seems easier for me.
thanks

[close2u]

hello
welcome

and


yes, of course it's ok

 

[teela]

Power chords are mostly a distorted electric guitar thing. you can play them on an acoustic but there isn't much point to it.

Justin says they can sound pretty cool on acoustic too...I guess depends on how good you play. Then again Justin seems to have the knack of playing anything on any type of guitar and it'll sound cool.

[PhillD]

Yes you can use power chords in acoustic guitar, but its choosing when and where, sometimes a more sparse chord sound can be really cool and emphasise other sections of the playing just like using alternate voicings or extended chords such as sixths and ninths can make things interesting. The thing is your brain picks up on the differences between minors and majors and thats why power chords and sus chords (which are neither minor nor major) can stand out.

Power chords are used for heavy distortion simply because of a full major or minor chord would probably sound muddy.

[Dii]

Hey guys

I've been practicing the 3 finger power cords, and i can now move the chord up and down the arm but i get some problems as i go higher in pitch ( higher notes ), since the frets get smaller and i cant sound the 5th string correctly cause of the 4th fingers make my 3rd go too far away 

I have thin and small fingers, it should be easier than streching out on the 3rd fret, but its way harder, specially when i play the D5
Just wanting to know your opinion if you had the same problem and how u got it solved.

Thanks in advance, btw i really like justin methods, nice and effective, cheers. 

[Mkkl]

Is there a certain pattern for powerchords to use in a key?
You use the MmmMMmD pattern for the chords and you've got scales for the notes but what about powerchords?

[Bootstrap]

Mkki - good question - I had to think about it for a little while.... I'll have a crack at answering

A power chord is neither major nor minor (1, 5, 8 ) - so I'm thinking that as long as you get the root note right you should be able to play any chord from the key eg in A you could play A, B, C#, D, E, F#,

Happy to be corrected.

Edit: I took out the G# from the original post as the 5th would need to be diminished and a G# power chord shape uses a D# - theoretically you could play a Gdim but you would need to move your 3rd finger back a fret to achieve it.

[Bootstrap]

Can't edit posts from mobile.... But the above should read G#dim....

[Mkkl]

thanks man I had a feeling it had something to do with the root note but some powerchords didn't sound good. Maybe I made a little mistake, I'll try it out right now. And it's by the way Mkkl with an L
Mkki sounds like a girl man! But no hard feelings

[Jonny5]

On playing in key using power chords...

I've picked up from somewhere that, especially in the types of music that predominantly use these chords, the 7th chord is played flat instead of diminished. In the example above that would mean using a G power chord instaed of the G#diminished. Is that acceptable?

And to Dii, although that question was over a month ago now :p I would either use just a 2 string version or a ring or pinky mini barre higher up the neck.

[kjelelokk]

Hello, I'm having trouble play the power chords for a shorter( :p ) amount of time. After a couple of minutes i can barley move my hand for some reason, it doesnt really hurt, but my whole lower arm gets really stiff, is this usual?

[PattheBunny]

"Medusa - What makes a powerchord (a fifth chord) sound like a power chord? Well you are only playing two (possibly the octave as well) notes which means it sounds chunkier and lacks the notes that make a minor a minor or a major a major. If you put in the octave then the chord sounds more metal / hard rock like Judas Priest or Black Sabbath (I think they pioneered fifth riffing in but I could be wrong). Also played with palm muting and down strokes it sounds hard rock, play with up and down strokes and its more grunge like Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit, etc...

If you want a cool tune play your power chords muted and then in your last couple of bars add the octave and release the mute - sounds awesome and highlights the difference, makes a great effect with a bit of distortion.

You can also get cool tunes by doing power chords and using the bass string for the fifth as well, if you play bass guitar you will know what I'm on about but for those who don't - if you look at C on the A string its 5th note is G. Directly above C on the A string is G. Now that allows us to construct a special chord called a slash chord so in this case C5/G. With this you play the fifth on G note on both the D and E strings as well as the C note on the A string. Sounds really complex but isn't and gives a lovely tone. I won't go into too much detail as slash chords are another topic but it has a nice sound.

Here is a tab of it:
C5/G
e  x
B  x
G  x
D  5
A  3
E  3
"


Thank you for this post.  I encourage people to read threads from the beginning.  You never know what you're going to find.  It's a treasure hunt.

Pat

[misterg]

Hello, I'm having trouble play the power chords for a shorter( :p ) amount of time. After a couple of minutes i can barley move my hand for some reason, it doesnt really hurt, but my whole lower arm gets really stiff, is this usual?

Hello and welcome

I'm far from an expert, but it sounds to me like the muscles in your forearm are fatiguing or cramping up....

I don't know if you are aware that the muscles that work your fingers are all up in your forearm, rather than in your hand.

It might be happening because these finger muscles haven't yet developed the strength to hold the chord down for any length of time. I would say this is fairly normal, and will pass as you build strength in the right places.

It might also happen because:

Your muscles aren't warmed up - start with something gentle;

You are applying much more pressure than necessary (the death grip) - Try relaxing your grip until you reach the minimum you need to play the chord cleanly, then be careful not to let tension creep back in.

Your wrist might be at an awkward angle - have a look at yourself playing in a mirror to check.

You  may have some medical condition that we don't know about ! - if it gets painful, or doesn't show signs of improving, then go and see your doctor.

My guess would be that you just need to build up finger strength. How long have you been practicing barre or power chords for?

Andy

[kjelelokk]

Hello, I'm having trouble play the power chords for a shorter( :p ) amount of time. After a couple of minutes i can barley move my hand for some reason, it doesnt really hurt, but my whole lower arm gets really stiff, is this usual?

Hello and welcome

I'm far from an expert, but it sounds to me like the muscles in your forearm are fatiguing or cramping up....

I don't know if you are aware that the muscles that work your fingers are all up in your forearm, rather than in your hand.

It might be happening because these finger muscles haven't yet developed the strength to hold the chord down for any length of time. I would say this is fairly normal, and will pass as you build strength in the right places.

It might also happen because:

Your muscles aren't warmed up - start with something gentle;

You are applying much more pressure than necessary (the death grip) - Try relaxing your grip until you reach the minimum you need to play the chord cleanly, then be careful not to let tension creep back in.

Your wrist might be at an awkward angle - have a look at yourself playing in a mirror to check.

You  may have some medical condition that we don't know about ! - if it gets painful, or doesn't show signs of improving, then go and see your doctor.

My guess would be that you just need to build up finger strength. How long have you been practicing barre or power chords for?

Andy

Thanks for the answer:) Not for so long, so its probably just the muscles, and me gripping too hard:)

[licksnkicks]

Here's a little fun exercise I love to play and it sounds so funky.  Try it.  I think you will really like it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo8udisAuTw&feature=related

It's great practice too for finger dexterity.  Play it with the vid!  Have fun!

[SausageCreature]

Power chords are mostly a distorted electric guitar thing. you can play them on an acoustic but there isn't much point to it.

Justin says they can sound pretty cool on acoustic too...I guess depends on how good you play. Then again Justin seems to have the knack of playing anything on any type of guitar and it'll sound cool.

My wife has a Yamaha classical (nylon-stringed) guitar of some sort. For some reason, it's a lot easier for me to bang out power chords with speed and accuracy on this guitar than on my acoustic or electric, and it sounds really cool too (at least to me anyway).

Sure there's some cognitive dissonance involved with hearing Sabbath or Ramones tunes on a classical guitar, but I reckon that's just part of the appeal. 

[tawny]

hey people. wondering why to use power chords at all, when the full barre chord sounds exactly the same.

[Bootstrap]

Hi Tawny - good question.

They only sound similar - not the same - and only under certain conditions.

Power chords withstand distortion a whole lot better than full barre chords of any shape.

Power chords other name is a 5 chord - the reason being is because they are made up of the root note and the perfect 5th and usually the perfect octave ie the 1st, 5th & 8th - these notes are THE most harmonious combination you can put together and without going into the physics of it the resultant wave form of the 2 or 3 wave forms interacting is relatively stable and therefore can cope with higher levels of distortion in heavy rock, metal & punk etc.

Conversely, when you add in the 3rd for major chords or b3 for minor chords and/or any other degree of the scale the resultant wave form is far less stable (albeit it might still sound good) this instability really shows up when you introduce distortion.

Select your bridge pick up only and turn the gain right up on your amp and play any barre chord or open major or minor chord and make sure you strum all of the strings - odds are it sounds bloody awful! Now play a power chord and if you are doing it right it should sound pretty cool. NB power chords can also be played as open chords - AC/DC being a prime example - it is one way they got those SG's and Marshall amps to sound so good.

Then try playing them on a clean channel on your neck pickup (or on an unplugged acoustic) and you won't notice the same level of difference - though a discerning ear will notice the missing 3rd.

Another thing is if you change to drop D tuning you can play power chords by simply baring the top 3 strings.

Hope that makes some sense.

[licksnkicks]

Power chords are a lot easier than barre chords and a whole lot faster(for me at least).  They have there purpose definitely.  When played with a lot of gain they sound really incredible especially played with all downstrokes.  It's a really powerful heavy sound!  I love the sound!

[tawny]

thanks guys. just getting a good handle on barre chords. checked out the power chords and thought "this is an e shape barre chord". thought i may have been missing something. tried your suggestions bootstrap, now i think i get it. they do sound pretty crunchy. yay, more stuff to learn, it never ends

[Bootstrap]

thanks guys. just getting a good handle on barre chords. checked out the power chords and thought "this is an e shape barre chord". thought i may have been missing something.

Well that same power chord shape also works with 5th string root notes as well - whereas e shape barre only works with 6th string roots

[licksnkicks]

One thing though  if playing a 5th string rooted power chord I'm having trouble muting the 6th string and when it rings out it sounds like crap. It's so very important to know how to do this with the tip of your finger against the "unwanted string".  Something else to try and perfect.  When that happens though it's like the angels singing. 

[tawny]

hehe dont think ive ever sounded like an angel. yeah, just checked out 5th string roots, thats where my barre chord theory falls apart. also having some trouble muting the 6th. think im getting hooked though. power chords sound mighty with some volume and distortion.