The Music Theory of POWER CHORDS

Powerchords are the building block of rock and metal. They get a bad rap for being simplistic, but the reality is that their simplicity gives them unparalleled versatility- the ability to accommodate both major AND minor tonalities instead of being limited to just one.

Applying this ambiguity just requries a little bit of knowledge about scales and fifths, as well as the chords in a key. This video will go over the music theory of powerchords and how they fit into your scale concepts, as well as general ideas and applications of power chords and their variations.

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Table of Contents:
00:00 Intro
00:25 Powerchords
01:28 Is It A Chord?
02:31 Substituting Chords
03:27 Big Notes
04:32 Inverted Powerchords
06:27 Converting Scales
10:35 Applying Chord Implications
13:49 Wrapping Up

[LyricalLull]

I really hate to be pedantic but at 1:30 you talk about how a G and D when played together are not a chord. They are indeed a chord. Playing more than one note at the same time is by definition, a chord. G and D are not a triad, they are a dyad; but still a chord. 2 notes is a dyad, 3 a triad, 4 a tetrad, 5 a pentad, etc.

[ayatollahmiranda]

Came for the theory, stayed for the Hetfield impersonation.

[Reragi]

3:17 you have turned Hotel California into Hot Hell Callin For Ya'

[RudyAyoub]

I like cant believe you do these in one take

[kevinsmith]

I've taught guitar for 27 years. Started playing at 15. I'm 64 years old now. I wish I had a teacher like you when I first started. Thank you for your contribution to the guitar playing community. Always informative, entertaining and enthusiastic. And humorous.

[Cain_Abyss]

Your Hetfield impersonation is on point! 'Rising up through the 😂

[ozancanca]

5:03
*_Guitar Center has left the chat_*
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*_Copyright has entered the chat_*

[SignalsMusicStudio]

Just wanna say thank you to all 201, 000 of you that decided to learn from my videos. I have the best comment section in all of youtube and thats all your fault! Also thank you x100, 000 to my patient Patreon subscribers who sponsor these videos. I'm getting a lot of copyright strikes on my videos now so their help is hugely appreciated. now watch this video and rock out!

[carl]

You made my day with "Enter California" !!

[ThingsandStuffchannel]

When you sang the word "air" as James Hetfield, I nearly collapsed. Thank you

[Deacn_Blues]

"I really like phrygian dominant"
A man after my own heart

[danieldonathan]

Really appreciated the James Hetfield impression :) great video too!

[thgivr]

Hey, even a musical diet of just Green Day and Nirvana songs is still a pretty epic representation of the power, ambiguity, and attitude of what power chords are capable of. It becomes more about the energy over the complexity.

[wesmatron]

"You get a sound like this... which is glorious"

Amen, brother

[gunvalt]

"There's a lot more to power chords than just Green Day and Nirvana songs..."
Bruh, I really felt that. As a fan of both bands both lead guitarists inspired me to pick a guitar.

[skwisgaarskwigelf]

My style is doing lots of fast power chords using only downstrokes while screaming *YEAH!!!*

[P_Ezi]

People will argue endlessly whether combinations of 1's and 5's should be called a dyad, interval, harmony, or chord. There are experts who can be quoted to support any of these names. When playing a piano, acoustic guitar, or even a horn section, this debate has its place.

However, when an instrument is intentionally being distorted by a non-linear signal path, that signal path is really part of the instrument. Playing an electric guitar through a distortion pedal or heavily overdriven amplifier requires a different skill set than playing an acoustic guitar.

When intervals composed of 1's and 5's are played with distortion, that is the context when they are called power chords. The distortion naturally adds more notes into the mix.

When a combination such as 1-5-1 is played on a distorting instrument, the sounded notes are not just 1-5-1. The distortion adds several new frequencies, and some of these new frequencies are actually the major 3rd.

As a simple example, playing 5-1, the inversion where the 5th is just below the root, would normally result in frequencies at 0.75 and 1 times the frequency of the root note. But when playing these two notes on a distorting instrument, distortion products are also naturally produced at frequencies of 0.5 and 1.25 times the original root frequency. The note at 0.5 would be an octave down from the root, and the note at 1.25 is the major 3rd. Now you have a person fingering notes at 5-1 (the 5th and the root), but sounding notes at 1-5-1-3 (0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.25 aka root, 5th, root, 3rd). That is one version of the power chord.

Note: There will also be many more distortion products present - especially odd harmonics. Some of these will also be major 3rds.

[Nossairito]

Dude it just feels redundant to say but man thanks so much for the videos you make, you made me fall in love with music theory and your channel's the gift that keeps on giving, you're doing the world of music a service ! :D

[CodamATW]

That Hetfiled impression lmaooo!


"Yeah!"
"Rising up through the ayyeee"


Perfect

[bittaraemaulana]

You look like a 2001-era Mike Shinoda, with the black hair/clothes/guitar and Hetfield impersonation. Love the video too, great job!