Just The Tip. . . POWER CHORDS

The first song I learned on the guitar was Smells Like Teen Spirit. It was 1992, hair metal was dead, and all that was needed to usurp it as the darling of pop culture was a flannel shirt, a ton of angst, and a little 2 note chord... THE POWER CHORD! and, arguably - some smack.

Kurt succumbed to the latter, however not before changing the world and the face of pop culture with the album Nevermind!

Ex.1 is a simple I ii vi progression using only power chords (in ever-saucy 6/8).

In Ex. 2a play a 3rd, instead of a 5th on your adjacent string set. 

In Ex. 2b add ornamentation, or hammer-on and pull off other notes in the scale (mostly sus4 and the 5th) In Ex. 2c I play a 3rd plus an additional Root note (an octave above) to fill out the sound.  More voices = bigger sounding chord!

In Ex. 3a I play the shapes as they would fall along your lowest 2 strings i.e 6th string root - in the key of C Major.  These are all of the Diatonic Chords in the key:

 C D- E- F G A- Bdim

I ii iii IV V vi viidim

In Ex.3b I play the same sequence on the A String, or "5th string root," as the 6th and 5th string root chords are most common in Guitarland!

Uh oh...  Things are getting scary!  Most of us have played a power chord with an additional root (up an Octave) to fill out the sound.  Try a similar approach and add the 5th BELOW the Root in Ex. 4.  Sort of an inverted power chord sound...  This is common in Metal music, and may result in a Bath Salt-induced adventure.

Sauce abounds!  "Stacked 5ths" are somewhat of a finger stretch, but certainly do-able!  Think Satellite by Dave Matthews Band!  Ex. 5 is basically a power chord with tension 9, which is a well loved and sonorous flavor whether in a harmonic or melodic application.  

I couldn't resist... In Ex. 6 I channel my inner Colma-session era Buckethead, with a Quarter note and an Dotted 8th note delay.  Just apreggiate the Stacked 5ths and let the Delay Pedal do the trippy work.  I use a TC Electronics Triple Delay in this video.

Finally, in Ex. 7 I combine the Stacked 5ths from Ex. 5 with the Metal-sounding "Inverted Power Chords,' from Ex. 4.  I roll on the volume knob, or "Swell" the volume so all you hear is the chord sound and not the attack of the plectrum... Lol "Plectrum." 

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