How do YOU play power chords?

I play them like this

Root, Fifth, Octave.

wut do u mean? dont every 1 play them the same? or do u mean strumming them?

I'm sorry, but is this really necessary to make a thread about?

Yes. Just wanna know how others play them.


I'm talking about how YOU finger them.

Arent all powerchords a root, fifth and octave?? Did I miss something somewhere?

From what I've seen, a lot of people say you play them "Root, Fifth". I however, find there's a lot of power behind that octave.

On a side not, say you are playing a G-C power chord pattern, you can get a grungier sound by playing that C like this

335xxx

Instead of like this

x35xxx

and this

355xxx

Yeah but for Thrash its better to play it on two strings. Better yet inverted power chords sound darker.

It's late here and my mind works not at this hour. So explain to me what an "inverted" powerchord would be. I'm curious.

Its basically x33xxx instead of x35xxx

x33xxx is a perfect fourth, x34xxx would be a diminished 5th or sharpened 4th, and x35xxx is a power chord, the definition of a power chord really is a root note and it's fifth... so I suppose a power chord could be and combo of root and fifth as long as your bass note is the root note...

@matt

Yeah, we just have different variations of the power chords. Don't know why I really care, though. I mean, I'm not really a fan of power chords.


Side note: I think there's another power chord that went something like 3355xx

Seems like we're just taking power chords into full on chords, haha.


Also, this is completely random, but I just got a mental image of a power chord in my mind saying "I wanna be a real chord!" just like Pinocchio would.

LoL Metal wouldn't be the same without power chords.

@ skold, 3355xx, unless I am mistaken, would be like a power chord only with a G root note (in E standard tuning) making it some type of G chord

No, it's still a C5 chord, but with the bass note being the 5th. ie C5/G. It gives a great unsettling sound, excellent for grunge as Skold pointed out.

An inverted power chord is just a 2 string power chord being flipped upside down. mattmurray is correct, x33xxxx is C and it's perfect 4th on it's own. But if the bass was playing an F then it would unmistakibly become an F5 power chord.

When I finger them, I use my index finger on the root, my 3rd finger on the 5th and my little finger on the octave. When adding the 5th below the root, making a C5/G chord for example, then I barre my index finger across both strings.

root fith is a minor pwr chord i belive. and root fith octave is the major.

No, root-5th is a perfect interval - it's neither major nor minor. Root-5th-octave is just adding the root above the 5th, doesn't make any difference to how it sounds tonality-wise.

o...thought i read some where minor maj, guess im rong bout tht

I was talking on another thread ages ago about "minor power chords" using just the root and the minor 3rd, and while they are not technically a power chord, they can still be a useful part of your playing. In the same way, a "major power chord" would consist of the root and the major 3rd. While these do not technically fit in with the definition of a "power chord"(root+5th), it is worth noting that a power chord is not actually a chord, but just a two note interval (a diad) using the root and the 5th, and therefore the root and the major 3rd shares a lot in common with it and could be considered for use equally as much.

I'm pretty big on something like 335xxx; it sounds really heavy.

i play ema a few different ways, and i agree with lead the inverted 5th soundsa awesome
I play em weird cause i like the sound
root - octave - octave fifth
x3x56x
or
(in drop D)
root-fifth-octave-octave fifth
33356xx
and of course
335xxx

I completely agree - why does it matter, a power chord is the most basic chord there is, both theoretically and physically speaking. If you're gonna start a thread about how each of us play a chord, at least make it one more interesting!

Afro

I play them with ease.

ye i figured power chords are simple, and ther like the first ones u learn..

sorry too have missed this before, I play power chords very sexually

sexually? wtf? do ur fingers hump them when u do a vibrato?lol

no it's a joke that me and my friends use that whenever somebody asks how we do something we say very sexually or upon occasion very homosexually

@ afro, I kinda agree, but if it wasn't for this thread then maybe some people wouldn't have used power chords with the 5th in the bass. Maybe a beginner had only been playing 2 string power chords, and now the thread has introduced them to 3 string power chords, or more. I agree that the way the thread was started was a little bit weird, and unfortunately it's gone weird at the end, but the bit in the middle could be useful to someone, and that's a good thing, right?

Normally I play normal power chords, but sometimes I'll do something like:

|------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------|
|-------------9-8-------------9-8----|
|-------------8-8-------------8-8----|
|-0-0-0-0-0-0-----0-0-0-0-0-0--------|
|------------------------------------|

So playing some other interval and then pulling off (or hammering on) to another. Lately though I've been playing everything Arpegiated...

I think he is saying that some people play chords with just two fingers, while others play them with three.

I do both, depending on what I am playing and how I wanna play it

I usually play root-5th-octave with two fingers.