Is a power chord major or minor?

[wulf]

Originally posted by Howard K
While that's absolutley correct in theory, I find that power chords - being played on distorted electric guitar 99.999% of the time - just sound cack when the bass plays major tonality. Whereas minor just works a treat.

I think that's because the context you normally hear power chords in is heavy rock music. A sweet sounding major scale doesn't cut it - hit a pentatonic minor with a couple of added blue notes and you're wailing!

Blues music is itself another idiom where classical or jazz approaches to major and minor just don't work so well. Play all your chords as dominant 7ths (major 3, flat 7) and stick a minor pentatonic over the top and it works - neither major nor minor but blues...

It might also be true to say that a power chord is specifially on the lower two strings of the guitar? I mean you wouldnt call it a power chord if played on the B and high E, or would you?

They tend to be played on lower strings but I think it's the lack of any 'clues' other than root and fifth that mark them out rather than the particular pitch.

Wulf

 

[moley]

Originally posted by Howard K
It might also be true to say that a power chord is specifially on the lower two strings of the guitar?

Not at all. Power chords are often played on the A and D strings, and sometimes the D and G strings.

Take Smoke On The Water, for instance. Unless I'm wrong, that riff is played as open 4ths on the D and G strings.

 

[Somebassguy]

Originally posted by Lovebown

Since the whole concept of chords as we know it in Western musical harmony is based on major/minor tonality a "power chord" that implies only a root and 5th, cannot be called a true chord.

So perhaps, instead to call it a double stop (which is what it is if played on any string instrument), we can call it an intervallic structure or two-note harmony or whatever... but not a chord!

/lovebown

Totally agreed. Chords are made up of triads, Root, III, V, Root, flat III, V etc. Root and V do not make up a chord in the theoretical sense, but they definately make up what is termed a DOUBLE STOP.

A double stop is best described as the playing of 2 notes together, most commonly played on adjacent strings. Double stops can be played both with, and against against chords.

 

[metron]

Is a power chord major or minor?

Neither in that its not adequately described by one or the other. In a band context, if there is only one other melodic instrument that is just playing 5/8 chords then wether you play major or minor type stuff is totally up to you!

 

[moley]

Originally posted by Somebassguy
Root and V do not make up a chord in the theoretical sense, but they definately make up what is termed a DOUBLE STOP.

A double stop is best described as the playing of 2 notes together, most commonly played on adjacent strings. Double stops can be played both with, and against against chords.

What if one of the notes is played on an open string? You're only stopping one note then, right? Is it still a double stop?

Sorry to labour the point, but I'm trying to get across that in a theory discussion such as this, double stop doesn't really have a place. A "double stop" is not a musical structure, it's a way of playing two notes at once on a stringed instrument.

 

[Pacman]

Originally posted by Somebassguy
Totally agreed. Chords are made up of triads, Root, III, V, Root, flat III, V etc. Root and V do not make up a chord in the theoretical sense, but they definately make up what is termed a DOUBLE STOP.

Not to belabor this, as we've done it a million times in the past (search the archives), but I disagree totally. I can play a C E and Bb, and it's a chord (not root, 3rd and 5th either). But that's not my point - a power chord is a chord because it functions as one. Harmony is implied, true, and you cannot call it major or minor without further harmonic information, but that's the nature of functional harmony. You couldn't tell the difference between an Em7 functioning as a iii chord from one functioning as a ii chord without context. The same can be said of diads.

Somebassguy - if you'd like to discuss the miriad of chords that can be defined by notes other than root, 3rd and 5th, I'd love to sometime

 

[Somebassguy]

Originally posted by Pacman

Somebassguy - if you'd like to discuss the miriad of chords that can be defined by notes other than root, 3rd and 5th, I'd love to sometime

Yes, there are a multitude of chords that don't include a V. I've created hundreds of them. But this post is about major and minor chords which are directly influenced by the tonic, III, and V. this is what I am refering to only. Diminished and Augmented chord structures generally fall into this same category also.

 

[Lovebown]

Originally posted by Pacman
Not to belabor this, as we've done it a million times in the past (search the archives), but I disagree totally. I can play a C E and Bb, and it's a chord (not root, 3rd and 5th either). But that's not my point - a power chord is a chord because it functions as one. Harmony is implied, true, and you cannot call it major or minor without further harmonic information, but that's the nature of functional harmony. You couldn't tell the difference between an Em7 functioning as a iii chord from one functioning as a ii chord without context. The same can be said of diads.

Well, I don't completely agree with you there.

A Power chord is never a "real" chord as compared to Em7.

My personal view on this, as stated earlier , is that a power chord is more a harmonic indication such as a bass line. What harmonic information does a root+5th really give?

Not a whole lot more than a bass note, since we all know that a 5th really isn't a harmonically rich chord tone.

Thus, I consider melodic movements in root+5ths, to be closer to bass lines than harmony.

/lovebown

 

[timsway]

i was always taught (and teach) two notes is an interval and a chord needs at least three notes (or two intervals) in tertian music structures (which most of us are playing, whether we want to admit it or not, hence the root, 'ter' or ''three').

but like when pacman is playing that C E Bb, he's implying a four note chord, (probably C7 but we could get fancy and say inverted E dim 6 ;-), and leaving out the less important note for the application. power chord players are doing the same, playing an interval, implying the majority or minority of the chord via the song's key and other chords.

stepping away from the instruments, a lot of 'power chord songs' have the thirds clearly defined in melodies - and a lot of these rock bands have bassists that riff through the implied major and minor scales of the power chords, further defining it.

the chord may not be a 'chord' but the songs sure have 'em.

 

[moley]

Originally posted by timsway
(probably C7 but we could get fancy and say inverted E dim 6 ;-)

Edim6?

 

[LiquidMidnight]

Originally posted by timsway
in tertian music structures (which most of us are playing, whether we want to admit it or not)

Everything I play uses quartal harmony.....damnit

Seriously though; one thing I always stress is while a single power chord does not hold any more harmonic information than a root and perfect 5th, power chords played together can form a context of what the harmony actually is. For example, if you were to play a G, Bb, and C power chord progression, it begins to imply a minor tonality. You can also use this to your advantage and play tones that normally aren't in the normal diatonic harmony. (since you have more "open" space delineated to you by the sparse chord voicings)

But 99.9% of the guitarist out there ignore this oppurtunity and just play some wankey pentatonic stuff.

 

[LiquidMidnight]

Originally posted by moley
Can two notes constitute a chord? Who knows, no-one seems to agree. Anyhow, one thing I will say, IMHO, to call it a double stop is a bit of a nonsense from a theory perspective. If I play a power chord on the piano, it's not a double stop.

Yeah, but if you were to play it on a piano, it would probaly be referred to as: B5, or Gb5 just to be "proper".

Then again, I don't ever recall coming across a 5 chord in piano music. It seems the people who write piano arrangements for sheet music come up with the deepest harmonies possible.

I agree with you though. When someone mentions the word "double stop", I immediatley think of an interval played on two adjacent strings. You know, the riff that's the basis of just about every Chuck Berry solo ever played. Also most "double stops" seem to infer more of a melodic function rather than a harmonic function. (though I've used double stops, such as 3/7s, to harmonic effect many of times on bass)

 

[moley]

Originally posted by LiquidMidnight
Yeah, but if you were to play it on a piano, it would probaly be referred to as: B5, or Gb5 just to be "proper".

Yup, that's the chord symbol I've always seen used for power chords.

Then again, I don't ever recall coming across a 5 chord in piano music. It seems the people who write piano arrangements for sheet music come up with the deepest harmonies possible.

It's not particularly common in piano/keyboard music, I'll give you that.

Listen to the intro to Babylon Sisters by Steely Dan though - there are some "power chords" played on a Rhodes.

 

[Wrong Robot]

I like to think of a power chord as a glorified root note

 

[johnm0187]

Originally posted by Wrong Robot
I like to think of a power chord as a glorified root note

hahahaha.........now that I think about it, you are right