Bone to pick with rock guys re; the 'power chord'

[Tal_175]

I’m against chords

I've seen you play them.

[James W]

A lot medieval and renaissance music uses a bare fifth as a cadential arrival chord.


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In fact, IIRC, parallel fifths and fourths were among the earliest examples of polyphony in medieval music.

[supersoul]

A major seventh chord is two powerchords on a major third


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also, a minor 7th chord is two power chords a minor third apart.

I'm not going to say which metal band I got this from, but it's something I think sounds interesting harmonically. Going between two power chords a tritone apart, with one of the power chords being, erm, inverted. So...

5 7 xxxx
6 6 xxxx
5 7 xxxx
6 6 xxxx

A5 and Eb5 power chords. The riff I got it from rapidly goes back and forth between the two.

[charleyrich99]

My 2 cents on power chords...

I think a lot of the "power" in a power chord comes from the ambiguity of whether it is major or minor. The lack of a 3rd allows the singer to fluctuate between major, minor, or blues third. The power chord also produces a more open sound that doesn't make you feel like it needs to resolve (to me at least). It also solves a problem with the distortion used in rock-styled music. The high-volume distortion or the distortion from a pedal accentuates some of the partials in the harmonic series such as a major 3rd that isn't exactly the same one used in tempered tuning. Thus, if you play a plain old major chord it sounds bad as the two different major thirds fight each other (in a bad way to my ears).

George Benson frequently plays power chords, but at an octave above the rock players. He modified Wes's octave style to include a fifth or fourth. It added a bit more power or sizzle to the octave in Jazz.

I believe the earliest power chords user in Rock music was Pete Townsend of the Who, probably in the late 60's or early 70's. I think it was a necessity when using Marshal stacks.

[grahambop]

A major seventh chord is two powerchords on a major third

wow I tried this and it tripped our fusebox and all the lights went out.

[ragman1]

Alright, I’ve got a bone to pick with the rock guys -- and I know some of you jazz guitarists will relate. Every time I hear someone call a "power chord" a chord, I die a little inside. Is this just me, or are there others who feel the same, given the actual history of music theory (not saying it doesn't evolve, or that that isn't okay, it's just that....) It’s not a chord. It’s a diad. Two notes -- usually a root and a fifth (or fourth, depending on inversion). And for the past five centuries (or however long it actually as been, and it has been a long time) the basic definition of a chord has been three or more simultaneous notes. The 'triad' is the minimum for status as a chord. Yes, chords can be broken, called 'arpeggios'. Anyway, that’s harmony. That’s how the game is played. I mean, I'm 73, started guitar in the mid sixties after a few years of playing sax, clarinet, and flute (which I dropped in favor of guitar, and later, added piano). I never heard of this 'power chord business 'till about, what, the 8os, or thereabouts? Relatively new in the historical scheme of things, eh? Now, I'm not suggesting that my time on my instrument makes me holier than anyone else on theory, I'm just relating my experience, my thoughts on this. Oh, btw, I'm quite shy about posting my playing, I should be a lot better than I am given these years, I've spent more time studying songwriting that getting good on my axe. I'm far more likely to post songs, not my performance. Just an irrelevant side note.


Now, I get it -- crank up the gain, let the amp do its thing, and suddenly that diad sounds bigger than life. But that fullness isn’t coming from the notes you’re playing; it’s coming from electronic distortion adding extra overtones (right?), which your brain interprets as a missing third. Strip away the distortion, and you’re left with a hollow, ambiguous interval -- neither major nor minor.
So let’s be clear: the so-called "power chord" isn’t some new harmonic breakthrough. It’s an artifact of electricity, a trick of signal processing. Not knocking it -- it’s got its place in rock. But if we’re talking theory, calling it a chord is like calling a unicycle a motorcycle just because it feels fast. Disagree? Chime in.

Sounds to me like you should stick to jazz then the rock guys won't bother you.

[Christian Miller]

In fact, IIRC, parallel fifths and fourths were among the earliest examples of polyphony in medieval music.

Indeed. The avoidance of parallel fifths starts to become more of a feature of music in the late 15th century iirc.


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[Christian Miller]

I've seen you play them.

I’m not proud of that fact.


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[Christian Miller]

wow I tried this and it tripped our fusebox and all the lights went out.

Darn, missed out the space haha. I’m not liable.


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[nyc chaz]

George Benson played octaves all the time with a fourth or fifth in between although he played them mostly on the upper strings.Guess he invented the power octave.

[pamosmusic]

George Benson played octaves all the time with a fourth or fifth in between although he played them mostly on the upper strings.Guess he invented the power octave.

Thats the Shearing octave!

[nyc chaz]

Thats the Shearing octave!

Don't remember Shearing hammering on between the fourth and fifth like Benson does but i could be wrong.

[pamosmusic]

Don't remember Shearing hammering on between the fourth and fifth like Benson does but i could be wrong.

Well he did play a piano — lift up the lid on that thing and it’s all hammers under there, amirite?

[nyc chaz]

Well he did play a piano — lift up the lid on that thing and it’s all hammers under there, amirite?

Not really,i'm talking about Benson within the octave hammering back and forth at times between the fourth and fifth.I'm not an expert on Shearing but i don't remember hearing him do that.

[pamosmusic]

Ahhh never mind. My humor must be too sophisticated.

[MarkRhodes]

Back to the OP, one might say that while all power chords are diads (or double stops), not all diads (or double stops) are power chords. So, saying "diad" or double stop isn't enough.

[Bob_Ross]

We had this same debate re: harmonic nomenclature a while back in another thread. I recall bringing up Debussy's use of chords built on 5ths and 4ths, were they "triads" if they contained no 3rd? Don't think we agreed on what they should be named.

In contemporary post-tonal music theory, the term "trichord" is used to denote a 3-note simultaneity.

[pauln]

"Every time I hear someone call a "power chord" a chord, I die a little inside."

I ask regarding the sound of three pitches rather than two, what property (other than definition of number of pitches) of "chord" makes the difference that it should be called a proper chord?

If you say "harmony", I ask the same question of that; what property (other than number of pitches) of "harmony" makes the difference that it should be called a proper harmony?

If you say two pitches are required for harmony, then I ask why are not two pitches' harmony sufficient for being called a chord if the required distinguishing property of a chord is harmony?

If you say two pitches are required to distinguish major from minor harmony, I will play you some three or more pitch chords that do no such thing. Then I will play some pairs of pitches that do so. Then I will ask you to play the bass line of a tune and accompany you playing just single pitches which clearly indicate not just major or minor, but numerous chord types, extensions and alterations, augmented, diminished, etc.

If I sound only one pitch as you play something on the bass so that it is clear the resulting harmony is major, but at that point in the tune the harmony is supposed to be minor, will you tell me I'm sounding the wrong chord, or sounding the wrong chord tone? If the right or wrong chord is happening if I am only providing my singular participation of one pitch (and you, as well), with just two pitches, where is the chord coming from? Can a horn section or an orchestra of single note instruments plays a chord? Who is playing that chord?

This whole denominational thing about how many pitches makes a chord is similar to the fundamental theorem of arithmetic in which the modern definition of prime numbers excludes 1 as prime in order that every integer larger than 1 can be written as a unique product of one or more primes. This is done by saying a positive integer is prime if its only factors are 1 and itself (except the number 1 in which case "1" and "itself" are the same number); 1 must not be allowed to be prime in order to avoid spoiling the unique prime factorization of integers greater than 1. 1^N where N could be any positive integer would allow factorization to include indefinitely long series of 1x1... which would fundamentally blow up the definition of prime numbers. Defining 1 as not prime is critical to defending the existence of a lot of other mathematical objects and structures that would fall away if 1 were prime.

But I'm not seeing how musical things are broken or blown up if chords are defined as less than three pitches... ?

[Al Haig]

[dconeill]

... Can a horn section or an orchestra of single note instruments plays a chord? Who is playing that chord? ...

But I'm not seeing how musical things are broken or blown up if chords are defined as less than three pitches... ?

Here's how I understand it.

Who is playing a chord in an ensemble of single-note instruments? The ensemble is. No one instrument is playing a chord, but taken together they are.

The word "chord" has a stable definition of long standing - three or more pitches sounded at once. You can call a chair a "fimber", if you want to, but no one will know what you're talking about. So at bottom it's about communication - if you want your communicant to understand what you mean, you would do well to stick to the standard definitions of words.

Aside: calling a "power chord" a chord, as it contains only two pitches, is formally incorrect. But "power chord" is what almost everybody calls it, so that's the term we're stuck with to foster communication.

Two notes played at once can indeed indicate the harmony, to a certain extent - this is known as using "guide tones". The third and the seventh of a chord, within limits, determine the kind of chord it is. If what's being played doesn't include one or both the third or the seventh, then the chord is difficult to characterize in isolation. The third and the seventh, in any vertical order, can define the following harmonies:
[root implicit]
major third and major seventh relative to implicit root, e.g. [C] E B = major harmony; ambiguously, augmented harmony
major third and minor seventh, e.g. [C] E Bb = dominant harmony
minor third and minor seventh, e.g. [C] Eb Bb = minor harmony, ambiguously, half-diminished harmony
minor third and diminished seventh, e.g. [C] Eb Bbb or less formally [C] Eb A = diminished harmony

Some chord characteristics, such as sus4 and sus2 chords, don't fit well with third-seventh guide tones.

[Scorch]

Now there's a first world problem.

[pauln]

Now there's a first world problem.

Yeah, but it is way down the list;
the top is, "Where can I park my
car and how can I lose weight?"

[Doctor Jeff]

I was this many years old when I discovered that a "power chord" was only 2 notes.

I've been playing Smoke on the Water wrong all these many years.

[Scorch]

It's ok Dr Jeff, one needs to be willing to change.

[Bob_Ross]

I was this many years old when I discovered that a "power chord" was only 2 notes.

I've been playing Smoke on the Water wrong all these many years.

fwiw, I've always thought of a "power chord" as three notes...albeit two of them are the same pitch class, one octave apart. The fifth happily nestled in between that octave.

And I will readily admit that I too played "Smoke On The Water" incorrectly for decades: Turns out Ritchie Blackmore did only use two-note "chords" ...but it was the inversion of the two notes I thought it was.