Songs that use Power Chords

📌REVISION: I decided after publishing to cut out a segment from this video about how the harmonic series causes major and minor chords to sound muddy when distorted. This is because, on reflection, I feel my explaination for why this happens was incomplete and really that topic was beyond the scope of this video anyway. I will revisit the topic in a dedicated video in the future. Sorry for any confusion caused.
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Power chords, or fifth chords, are a staple of guitar music. Despite the simple sound and shape, there is a lot to discuss when it comes to fifth chords, with even their classifcation as 'chords' up for debate!

And, an extra special thanks goes to Peter Keller, Douglas Lind, Vidad Flowers, Ivan Pang, Waylon Fairbanks, Jon Dye, Austin Russell, Christopher Ryan, Toot & Paul Peijzel, the channel’s Patreon saints! 😇

0:00 What is a power chord?
1:23 Inverted power chords
2:06 More distortion, more power chords!
2:51 ToneGym
3:30 Power chord songs are still major or minor
5:01 are power chords actually "chords"?
7:06 Power chords on piano
8:21 Patreon

[DavidBennettPiano]

📌📌 REVISION: I decided after publishing to cut out a segment from this video about how the harmonic series causes major and minor chords to sound muddy when distorted. This is because, on reflection, I feel my explanation for why this happens was incomplete and really that topic was beyond the scope of this video anyway. I will revisit the topic in a dedicated video in the future. Sorry for any confusion caused.

[tylercobra]

This video could’ve been 15 hours long bc there’s so many songs lmao

[evolutisband]

It’s nice hearing you break down so many songs with distortion.
It’d be cool to hear you break down genres by how they tend to utilize music theory and contrast it with examples that break from “tradition” if you will.
Great content man

[andrewpappas]

This could be filled with countless rock and metal songs but power chords can be used on bass as well, with some of the most well-known examples being While My Guitar Gently Weeps by The Beatles, the intro or Orion by Metallica, John the Fisherman by Primus, Ace of Spades from Motörhead (and just a majority of songs from the latter two bands), Money by Pink Floyd (based around a B5 power chord), Sober by Tool and numerous other songs

[altareggo]

Freakin' ADORE this channel!! The very best and clearest explanations of music theory on the internet that i've yet to find.

[slidenaway]

Wow!!! Really awesome analysis on distortion and harmonic series. I’ve played the guitar for 25 years and am pretty knowledgeable about music theory but never knew any of this. Very cool!!

[dissinyosandwich]

Since you brought it up briefly for context in this video, I think dedicating an entire video to explaining the harmonic series would be cool!

[Meshuggapeth]

If you listen carefully to Teen Spirit, you can hear not only fifths but fourths too. For example, the opening F5 also has a Bb, played on the third fret of the third string.

[Pandamasque]

The reason distortion makes minor chords sound muddy is that it brings out natural harmonics of strings, including the major 3rd, which creates a bit of dissonance. For that reason major chords do NOT sound muddy on a distorted guitar. For instance, Jimi Hendrix's typical "power" chord was thumbing the low root note, not fretting the 5th at all, and instead fretting the octave, the major 3rd and then the higher 5th. This sounds powerful even with fuzz, the muddiest of all distortion effects.

[VarcArtsandMusic]

Another thing to remember with distortion is that it adds over/undertones that can enhance the harmonic richness of a guitar sound alongside the vocals. Another interesting thing to consider is that there are cases of major/minor chords being played on a distorted guitar adding character in certain contexts, like when playing a Neapolitan chord before the tonic, or when a guitarist goes HAM with minor chords in a black metal song.

[HogarthAve]

Pete Townshend has talked a lot about this issue, explaining that he avoids the third when playing live with distortion to avoid the muddiness and complexity of the resulting chord. You can see this when he plays live. He plays an E chord shape with just one finger, muting the G string to get a power chord. He plays an A chord shape with his pinky on the 5th fret, thus avoiding the third and adding an additional 5th and octave. And he usually plays a G chord shape that avoids all thirds.

[Fritz]

Funny thing about "all of me" by John Legend: When I play It on the guitar with the capo on the first fret, the Eb5 chord (which usually would be a E5 chord), can be switched for a Em and it'll harmonize well enough.

[wareya]

The reason the harmonic series is related to distortion artifacts is a little more complicated than you make it out to be in this video. When you play two notes at the same time through distortion, you also get distortion from the *beat* between those two notes, not just the two notes individually. So you get undertones, too.

Those undertones are related to where the chord tones nearly line up in the harmonic series of lower frequencies, which is why root plus fifth gives you an undertone an octave down. More complex intervals have lower and lower undertones. And the more chord tones you add, the more undertones there are competing for space. This affects the harmonic overtones, too, but by making new, more complex overtones, not (just) by making the overtones of each individual note fight for space.

[jomppe]

Kurt Cobain is perhaps the best example of how you can use power chords in your music really creatively. This was because he was able to make incredibly rich and catchy vocal melodies.

[loganfinn]

Correction: at 6:36 these are full major chords. The third of the chord is definitely audible

[joermnyc]

One trick to thicken up power chords off of the low E string is to add in the octave down of the fifth, so a D5 would be 5 5 7 7 - - on a chord tab. It’s simple just to bar the 5th fret across the low E and A string (in standard tuning, this would be harder in drop D since that lower root note is now up two frets and a 7 5 7 7 - - shape is not as comfortable to play (and good luck getting all 4 notes to ring out clearly without practicing.)

[joelcaron]

Explaining power chords : You Rocked it like a Hurricane !!

[urex]

Power chords and drop tunings were the lifeblood of grunge rock. For whatever reason, it always appealed this caveman listener's ears. Put on some Chevelle and I am a happy camper (in my little cave).

[bobsykes]

Nice that you emphasized the use in distorted guitar. Vacuum tube amps produce 2nd and 3rd harmonic distortion (really just overtones) primarily, so that harmonic relationship has to work with whatever is being played on the stirngs themselves.

[morganellieification]

inverted power chords are great as the bass will be playing the root low note and the 5th and 1st on the guitar will cut through the mix so much more, ZZ Top did this all the time