Quinta: what is it about electric guitar? How to build a power chord?

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

In the previous century, the electric guitar appeared, and after that - new ways of sound production. Rock musicians began to use various effects that overload the amplifier in excess and make the sound somewhat disharmonious and "crunchy".

That is, triad chords sounded "dirty" and cut the ear. To fix this and combine beauty with sophistication, along with hard rock, such a sound production technique as a fifth appeared. What it is and how to use it will be detailed below.

What is remarkable about this technique?

There are many chords - from the simplest (on which you can build any song) to the most complex, used by world-famous virtuosos. However, with the advent of the founding fathers of heavy metal - the Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Led Zepellin - were inventedpractical fifth chords.

Musicians of the above groups brought to rock and roll the use of overdrive and deliberate amplifier overload, which became the main characteristic of the new weighted style. It became inconvenient to play according to the standard scheme, and the sound came out - just “rubbish”, so minimized fifths appeared.

Now this method of sound extraction is widespread and is used by leading metalheads around the world. It is known that the fifth is the same power chords (power chord). However, the data about the genius who first came up with a similar variation of playing the electric guitar remains a topic of heated debate to this day.

Meanings of the word "fifth"

1. The general meaning is the word "five" (from the Latin quinta).
2. The term is the designation of the fifth note from one octave relative to the very first of them.
3. With regard to bowed instruments, the fifth is the thinnest of the strings.
4. Quintet - a team of five people.
5. In fencing, the fifth way to strike.
6. In the game "Lotto" - a line occupied by five dice.
7. In music, an interval that occupies all five steps of the scale.
8. A five-step diatonic scale.

The essence of sound production

The secret lies in the fact that a higher fifth is added to the standard selected key. The key tonic is located on the 5th-6th string, and such a chord contains only three notes. However, power chords (fifth) are somethingdefective, no identifier. That is, it is impossible to understand whether the sound is major or minor, since there is no third component (usual for a standard chord) in it.

Such a sound extraction allows the electric guitar to produce an aggressive, strong and clear audio stream. By the way, fifths are used both for the most complex riffs and for leading rhythm parts. Anyone who wants to learn how to play compositions like Kirk Hammett or Yngwie Malmsteen should definitely learn that the fifth is the most reliable way to play quickly and efficiently.

Symbols

Gamma consists of seven notes (steps) that follow each other in a certain order. They are major or minor. Fifths on the guitar, you can beat both those and others. After all, they consist of two steps (instead of the usual three) and are neutral.

The fact is that when building a standard chord from a certain scale, it is the third note that is responsible for the minor or major. It does not exist in a fifth, because it is essentially an interval between two steps. Power chords in the notation are complemented by the number five, for example: A5, E5, F5.

Building Standard Chords

To create an Am triad, you need to take three notes: 1, 3 and 5 from the A-minor scale, and for the A major - the same from the A-major scale. Only the third degree of the scale distinguishes them from each other. Power chords are placed on the thickest strings (4-6) of the fretboard, and one more step is added to them from a more “voiced” (high) octave. Therefore soit is important to know the correct position of the notes on the fretboard.

How do I know where to put my fingers?

There is a special table that allows you to deal with this issue. For example, to play D5, you need to press the 6th string at the 10th fret with your index finger, and the 5th with your ring finger, but only a couple of frets higher. In the version with three strings, the 4th string is additionally clamped and two frets are added relative to the first step. Each fifth can be constructed in a similar way.

Ways to play

Power chords with distortion are best played with a pick. For a special effect, the strings can be muted with the side of the right hand. The movements are usually single, directed from top to bottom (or vice versa).

In the fingering for fifth chords, crosses indicate strings that do not need to be touched. You can build them in any fret and use only a convenient mediator.

A power chord is the interval between the 1st and 5th steps - that's a fifth. Everyone knows what a guitar is - it is a universal instrument that allows you to experiment and create new sounds.