The world of Power Chords

I was browsing an online auction where a seller is selling a dvd saying he can teach you to play guitar quick so I had a look and he goes on about power chords that most rock/pop music is made up from power chords. As im compleatly dumb I was intreaged and carried on reading his listing and he goes on to say 2 months with power chords you too will be able to play most music.
Im thinking either this guy is on to something or hes conning the people who are starting out playing the guitar.
ive tried a well known search engine to search about power chords and not come up with much except that power chords consits of 2 to 3 strings or notes working in harmony. Im thinking its good in theroy but will only work with distortion or overdrive. if im wrong dont slate me im just starting out and intrested about power chords and what are they all about and how to use them if i decide to learn them. Im not going to learn them if its pants lol.

Save your money learn about power chords here. These chords are simple and shouldn't take four months to catch on. Here are some links to get you started.

http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=9024

http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=9624

http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=9225

Thanks dude they are wicked think ill save my money like you say lol. And they dont look that hard at all suppose its cheating in a way as if im right its not like playing a full chord but the overdrive or distortion sort of hides that fact. Think ill give it a bash suppose its not too hard to make up your own songs with power chords neither. and put in a simple lick in there would sound preaty cool.

Thanks dude your a star

power chords are awesome to learn if you're into hard rock. pretty much every metallica song and well metal song in general has powerchords in it, so once you've learn them, picking up tabs for hard rock will be a lot easier. Powerchords aren't as melodic (is that the right term) as normal chords because they don't use 5-6 strings to produce the chord but if u want that rock sound, you've got it.

Hard Rock, Mettalica...........hmmmmm I think im on to a winner here just need to figure out my damm effect peddles now lol.

my thoughts with power chords..punk..punk..more punk :p

I think power chords are one of the easiest things to learn while playing guitar

yer in my opinion, if ure good at powerchords, you play most of all offspring songs :)

Power chords are super-super easy. You can learn them in like, a minute or less. They will let you play lot's of music but it won't sound as good as with actual chords. Good for starting, but you can learn them for free, also you don't want to stick with them for long.

Originally Posted by: acapellaPower chords are super-super easy. You can learn them in like, a minute or less. They will let you play lot's of music but it won't sound as good as with actual chords. Good for starting, but you can learn them for free, also you don't want to stick with them for long.

Uh...not necessarily true. Power chords have a totally different sound than "actual" chords. Try playing a song like Smells Like Teen Spirit using the full chords rather than the power chords. It just don't work right.

My advice to you, Hardrive: Learn power chords, but don't become too dependent on them. I am, and now whenever I'm jamming, I'm stuck with lame little fills and power chords. *sigh*

Originally Posted by: earthman buckUh...not necessarily true. Power chords have a totally different sound than "actual" chords. Try playing a song like Smells Like Teen Spirit using the full chords rather than the power chords. It just don't work right.

You gave me the what-for! In some cases yeah you need them for speed purposes or other such things but yeah, don't become dependent on them.

thanks guys Cos i learnt the standard chords before im going down the road of power chords im not going to fall in the trap of cheating to play fast thank god but totaly agree power chords with what i can gather is just a simplified chord that the effect processor distorts and make it sound good I dont think power chords will work very well with out effects processor and thats when normal chords come into there own....

do you guys know any where i could get licks or small practice tabs with power chords im not asking for full music just something to play with for educational perpouse.....if im stepping out of line mods please feel free to delete this portion...

power cords don't have to be distorted, they sound alright even when they aren't overdriven, but the majority of songs that do use powerchords do distort them just because they sound better. if you distort a regular chord it probably won't sound as good as a distorted power chord. I don't believe a powerchord is a substitute for a regular chord, or a regular chord is a substitute for a power chord, they serve different purposes. i'm sure The Offspring, or Metallica could use regular chords if they wanted to, after all they've been playing for over 20 years and have dedicated god knows how much time to jamming, but powerchords sound awesome, and regular chords sound nice.

Originally Posted by: Hardrivethanks guys Cos i learnt the standard chords before im going down the road of power chords im not going to fall in the trap of cheating to play fast thank god but totaly agree power chords with what i can gather is just a simplified chord that the effect processor distorts and make it sound good I dont think power chords will work very well with out effects processor and thats when normal chords come into there own....

do you guys know any where i could get licks or small practice tabs with power chords im not asking for full music just something to play with for educational perpouse.....if im stepping out of line mods please feel free to delete this portion...

www.ultimate-guitar.com

Try songs from Nirvana, Bush, Green Day, and the others mentioned here.

I'm going to come at you from a metal head's perspective. With that in mind, metal uses a lot of distortion, so if you start playing a bunch of chords that have, say, four notes in them, you're going to get a cluttered mash of ass. Triads can pull it off, but not all the time. 7th chords and up just sound like total crap. That's why the power chord works so well. You're playing through a dirty signal, so it's best not to use too many notes and the power chord only has two notes. However, if you play through a clean channel and hit a power chord, you get kind of an empty sound. It just kinda sounds empty and incomplete. Namely because it's missing that 3rd. The lack of the 3rd helps the 5th add more power to the root with distortion, but just sounds emotionless without distortion. So as far as opinions go, mine says that distortion and power chords are a perfect match, but in the clean world it's a handle with care thing. Nobody will really know what kind of emotion you're trying to convey if you use too many of them in a clean channel.

Well i gave it a bash today with power chords and i can see now why people rate them and diss them. I learned smells like teen spirit took me about 30 mins to learn the main lick or rift what ever its called and its quite easy but i would say the chords sound good but with out an effect box or on an acustic it will sound pants. But yea power chords rock and ive looked around and most rock songs and rock ballads and so on contain some sort of power chords. worth learning but also worth not getting to dependant on neither.

power cords are triads that omit the 3rd. so we get the 1st & the 5th or inverted the 5th and the 1st. Or maybe >1-1-5 > or 5-1-5 > 5-5-1. The use of the 1st and 5th definatly sound strong, also when using distortion we can crank it up. They also lend themselves to a lot of freedom when playin a solo. :)

I think it is rude when we do'nt answer someones question to the best of our ability. Even I there is more or better info. I tell e'm what I know. If I make a mistake post it. ;)

A small point,but sometimes adding a 3rd,6th,or 7th to the plain old diad power chord can be cool.Especially at a point of emphasis or melodic tension.

Thanks guys im getting into these power chords. Just learning smells like teen spirit and for a beginer its a good tune to learn..
I have noticed that so many songs have the format shown below just moves around the fret board which is cool.
But i get the part of the 1 on the E string use index finger but the 3 3 I use my pinky and ring finger for is there an easier way this the only prob with tabs they dont tell you which fingers to use.Oh and im dumb lol.

|-------------------|
|-------------------|
|-------------------|
|---3---------------|
|---3---------------|
|---1---------------|

Originally Posted by: Cryptic Excretions. 7th chords and up just sound like total crap. .

Not neccesarily. When used in good context, they can be powerful.
Here's the chorus progression for one of my songs. It's playing in a slow half time feel strum. I'll only write each chord once.

....C#sus...E.....Bsus...G#7sus....G#7
---4-------0----2-----4---------4------
---4-------0----2-----4---------4------
---6-------2----4-----6---------5------
---6-------2----4-----4---------4-----
---4-------1----2-----6---------6------
-----------0----------4---------4------

Try this with distortion, you might be surprised-maybe not.