Power Cords

[Hood]

I've been playing power cords like crazy since they were introduced. But I noticed that some useful information is missing from the lesson 2 page that I think a lot of beginning guitar players are asking themselves.

1) I've been practicing Iron Man by Black Sabbath. I've noticed that you can move the power cord down one string and over 5 frets. So instead of playing

d 9 12 12 14 14 17 16 17 16 17 16 14 12 14 14
a 9 12 12 14 14 17 16 17 16 17 16 14 12 14 14
e 7 10 10 12 12 15 14 15 14 15 14 12 10 12 12

you can play:
g 4 7 7 9 9 12 11 12 11 12 11 12 7 9 9
d 4 7 7 9 9 12 11 12 11 12 11 12 7 9 9
a 2 5 5 7 7 10 09 10 09 10 09 10 5 7 7

is there a problem with that? It's much easier to play since you don't have to contort your hands to reach the 17th fret.

2) My second question is what is the method to name power cords? The example lesson shows the G5 power cord, why is it named G5? What do A5, B5, C5, D5, E5 look like? What is A#5? Does that mean it's inverted?

thx,
Hood

[drumstix128@aol.com]

1)Yes the way you're playing it[starting with 244]is okay because those re the same notes.Different strings,same notes."Play a power chord on the 7th fret then play it at the 2nd fret.You'll see what I mean.

2)This is a G power chord

d----5----------------
a----5-------------
E----3---------------

The reason it is called a G power chord is because the root note[the 3]is a G.
As to where the 5 comes from I dont know.Now that you know where G is, just find the A, E,etc.They all have the same formation.

Hope this helped.

[Hood]

Thanks for your response Drumstix.

So A5 would be

d 7
a 7
e 5

or

g 2
d 2
a 0

right?

[ghodaddyyo]

The real name for a power chord is a Dominant 5. In Drumstixs' example, the 3 is the root, the 5 is the 5th note of the G major scale. When played in the example you shown, the 5 is the dominant tone which gives it that powerful "rock" sound.

So... a G powerchord would be represented as G5 in a chord chart.

[This message has been edited by ghodaddyyo (edited January 18, 2001).]

[StoneDragon]

1) I notated Ironman to be played on the E and A strings, because that is the way that Toni Iommi plays the song. He even mentioned in an instructional column in one of the guitar mags that everybody plays that riff wrong... it's meant to be played up high on the E and A strings. The reason for this is that the tone of the chords are different when played up high on the bass strings.

You can play it on the A and D strings if you want to, but I felt in the interest of accuracy, that I should notate it the way it is actually played by the guy who wrote it.

2)To make a short story long....

There isn't any standard way to name power chords diagrams.... obviously Gpowerchord doesn't work and Gpc would get all the anti-smoker people up in arms etc...

In the olden days (B.T. before tab) if anybody even bothered to label a power chord, it was usually G(no 3rd). The problem with this notation is that G all by itself is assumed to be a major chord.... so G(no 3rd) would automatically be considered a G major chord without a 3rd. That's fine, except that a power chord could just as easilly be a G minor chord without a 3rd.

Somewhere along the way.... the guitar magazines started labeling power chords with a 5. So now you have G5. That designation makes more sense that the (no 3rd) business, so it has pretty much caught on with the majority of writers.

So, with this naming, the chord takes it's name from the root note (the note your index finger is playing) and the 5 designates that it is a power chord.... G5, E5, B5, A5 etc...

Now, A#5 (or Ab5 for that matter) exposes one of the flaws of this naming system. A#5 (based on established naming conventions) would really suggest that the root of the chord is A# and that the A# chord is played without a 3rd. On the other hand.... there are uses for a "power chord" that is built from A and a #5 interval (as well as A and a b5 interval). In this case, I will usually write it like this: A(#5) of A(b5).

Inverted power chords don't have any special name, it's still just A5 (or whatever the root is).

Be sure to check out my Intervals Lesson (http://www.zentao.com/guitar/theory/intervals.html) if you don't understand what roots, 3rds and 5ths are.