KVR Audio

A.M. Gold · Post by **A.M. Gold** » Sun Jul 26, 2009 9:10 am

Back to power chords---my guitar teacher when I was 13 told me they were invented by Pete Townshend.

Melkor · Post by **Melkor** » Sun Jul 26, 2009 9:28 am

I was told, when i was around the same age, that Tony Iommi "invented" them because his severed finger tips couldnt handle full barre chords.

Guitarslayer · Post by **Guitarslayer** » Sun Jul 26, 2009 5:36 pm

You're right, modes are used out the arse in metal, but mostly as positions of the Tonic, which is almost always Aeolian or Phrygian (often both in the same song) ... if not totally Chromatic, which is also pretty common in metal.

ie they are using mode "shapes" all over the neck, but these shapes/licks always resolve to an Aeolian or Phrygian root.

I suppose some of those "Folk-Metal/MiddleEarth-Metal" bands might use Mixolydian as a key, but it would be pretty hard to sound distinctly metal with that Major 3rd in there IMO.
Phrygian Dominant pulls off this gargantuan feat ONLY because 1)It has a b2 2) it has the Aug 2nd interval ..... which kinda knocks the M3 off of its "happy" perch a bit.

I actually listen to shitloads of metal TBH, from Van Halen right through to Mortician and Suffocation ...... old Cannibal Corpse, you name it.
Although ATM im really into Dream Evil (the band,not the song).

Its just not all i listen too

Yeah, I can agree with that as well.

Ofcourse it often resolve in either Aeolian or Phrygian root, It's kinda what makes it sound metal, hehe. But I like the bands who think alittle outside this box and just make the music that sounds interesting with different modes as key and still can be called metal.

But it is hard to see any known metalband to use for example mixolydian as a main key, because it just doesn't sound evil-ish. But still a nice mode I think

When I use these modes I often write melodies around this special mode, like mixo and try even further to use a harmony that sounds nice together. It may sound somewhat experimental, but it's funny!

Guitarslayer · Post by **Guitarslayer** » Sun Jul 26, 2009 5:42 pm

And Dream Evil kicks ass

I saw them live at Tuska-festival in Finland last year. They were pretty good!

Sorry for the sidetrack yet again. I'm finished with what I had to say now

A.M. Gold · Post by **A.M. Gold** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 1:33 am

Melkor wrote:I was told, when i was around the same age, that Tony Iommi "invented" them because his severed finger tips couldnt handle full barre chords.

In the case of The Who, Entwhistle was so inventive and all over the place with bass, Pete could probably do with only roots and fifths on a lot progressions.

vespers75 · Post by **vespers75** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 1:45 am

Bonus points to anyone who can pick out what scales were used on Blut Aus Nord's MoRT album.

Tony Ostinato · Post by **Tony Ostinato** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 1:46 am

kinda think of power chords as guitarists who dont want to risk revealing they dont know the song so they play it safe avoiding all the 3rds lol.

i dont wanna hack on rock too much cause i do enjoy playing it but i find that people who can ONLY play rock tend to make too much of it and take it too seriously.

this quote from a guitarist for instance "it would be impossible to write out what the rolling stones play as sheet music because the drummer changes up/turns around the beat almost every bar".

another one said to me "you mean they have modes on sax too?"

people need to get out of these insulated seperate musical communities and explore around. do somethin else, play some middle eastern and some polkas and some jazz and classical and soon you realize how much of the same thing goes around over and over in all styles of music.

A.M. Gold · Post by **A.M. Gold** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 1:48 am

True, it would be hard to do jazz with power chords.

Guitarslayer · Post by **Guitarslayer** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 8:47 am

Tony Ostinato wrote:kinda think of power chords as guitarists who dont want to risk revealing they dont know the song so they play it safe avoiding all the 3rds lol.

i dont wanna hack on rock too much cause i do enjoy playing it but i find that people who can ONLY play rock tend to make too much of it and take it too seriously.

this quote from a guitarist for instance "it would be impossible to write out what the rolling stones play as sheet music because the drummer changes up/turns around the beat almost every bar".

another one said to me "you mean they have modes on sax too?"

people need to get out of these insulated seperate musical communities and explore around. do somethin else, play some middle eastern and some polkas and some jazz and classical and soon you realize how much of the same thing goes around over and over in all styles of music.

You do realize that among musicians and hobbyists alike there must be somewhere about 100 guitarists per 1 saxophonist. (I'm just guessing, don't hate on me

)

Guitar is a very popular instrument among teenagers and adults too. To quote guitarists and generalize like that doesn't give the true fact. Many are just hobby-musicians and don't care for trying out other styles than they already play and like.

Therefore, it's far too effortless of you just to quote two guitarists we don't even know who they are. Everyone has "stupid" questions or statements in the beginning.. don't you remember?

Tony Ostinato · Post by **Tony Ostinato** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 7:32 pm

indeed, and sax is a little harder to get up and running on what with the constant blowing.

i was in a music store once and a father and son were in shopping and the father asked do you have any instrument thats really easy to play and the guy said sir if there was an instrument that was really easy to play our walls would be covered with them.

(rimshot)

i think theres like 100 saxs to trumpet ratio out there too, and only 76 trombones.

(vintage rimshot)

the thing about the numbers, besides devaluation, is the pressure to rise above the crowd as everyone raises the bar. with some guys the way they do that is volume, others hair, others clothes, others no clothes, others makeup, and some musical chops.

power chords in jazz would be fusion wouldn't it?

i dont mean to hack on rock , again, i got my crow fed to me years ago when i mouthed off to a student about how easy kiss music was and he gave me one song to write up, i forget the title but im sure someone will probably get it, it sure sticks out among their tunes, and it was like chord chord chord chord on and on and i was like sheesh i see what their trying to prove here already. wasnt like one of their popular tunes or anything but it all made sense and showed they could pile on the chords.

i include rock in my encouragement to tour everything in music, even if you really at first are put off by something sometimes its really like just an ugly green sauce on a steak and you can just take the steak to the kitchen and run it under a faucet to get rid of the green sauce and then put on some 57 sauce.

power chords forever!

mtilli · Post by **mtilli** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 8:31 pm

vespers75 wrote:Bonus points to anyone who can pick out what scales were used on Blut Aus Nord's MoRT album.

Yup, that record sounds like they had to even break borders of chromatic scale

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 2:53 am

Tony, I'm a little unclear on your point here.

i dont wanna hack on rock too much

i dont mean to hack on rock

i include rock in my encouragement to tour everything in music

I think of rock as a very broad spectrum of musical styles. What are you saying? I can tell you that once that a person I knew who never made it passed the 7th grade once told me "you can learn something from everyone no matter how smart or stupid the person may be." I always remembered that which means he proved his point.

I hope that is what you meant in your last quote, but I think rock can exist without the power chord. But you got me a little confused

KenjiBeast · Post by **KenjiBeast** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 3:58 am

A.M. Gold wrote:True, it would be hard to do jazz with power chords.

"Shell" voicings are actually very common in jazz pedagogy and from an intervallic standpoint, they're essentially identical to power chords.. The only difference is that in power chords you play the root and fifth of a chord, in shell voicing, you play the third and the seventh.. Regardless, the steps between the bottom of the dyad and the top is a fifth or a fourth. Think about it!

mmarxetc · Post by **mmarxetc** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 10:34 am

Power chords will always be "in". ALWAYS! It IS the staple chord for music today, especially for rock. Rock music will always be primarily based on power chords. They're easy to play, sound aghem, powerful and allow for (most importantly!) much more freedom for the vocal(s) melodies - less influenced and unaffected by color tones and added tonalities. Pop music is based on unique and catchy ass vocal melodies structured around simple chord progressions that have been used a million times over.

Now, power chords are very very often used with other chords to add flavor but as a whole, the power chord progression holds down the fort. The power chord lays the foundation for the vocals. Power chord variations like sus and add chords leave suspension and still "really" giving no hint to maj/min are prevalent. Chords with only two notes give the progression simplicity and are easy to follow by the average listeners ear. Lets those harmonics sing, less is more.

My response is based particularly on popular music. Get into jazz, fusion, and your more musical genres then the power chord is used mush less and for different reasons with different guitar tones and distortions. Redundant, I know but I wanted to have a little say, too.

M.M

Guitarslayer · Post by **Guitarslayer** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 11:24 am

mmarxetc wrote:Power chords will always be "in". ALWAYS! It IS the staple chord for music today, especially for rock. Rock music will always be primarily based on power chords. They're easy to play, sound aghem, powerful and allow for (most importantly!) much more freedom for the vocal(s) melodies - less influenced and unaffected by color tones and added tonalities. Pop music is based on unique and catchy ass vocal melodies structured around simple chord progressions that have been used a million times over.

Now, power chords are very very often used with other chords to add flavor but as a whole, the power chord progression holds down the fort. The power chord lays the foundation for the vocals. Power chord variations like sus and add chords leave suspension and still "really" giving no hint to maj/min are prevalent. Chords with only two notes give the progression simplicity and are easy to follow by the average listeners ear. Lets those harmonics sing, less is more.

My response is based particularly on popular music. Get into jazz, fusion, and your more musical genres then the power chord is used mush less and for different reasons with different guitar tones and distortions. Redundant, I know but I wanted to have a little say, too.

M.M

But it's all true.

Sure, we're talking about the relevance of the power chord, but if you look further than that you can see that in rock mostly the melodies count. That's how I write my music anyway.

I try to come up with some kick-ass melody and apply chords often after I've come up with something. If not, it can be done the other way around! It's easy to come up with a melody based on only power chords because of the non-colorization.

Good thread!

Power Chords-Antiquated Term or Still Relevant