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Acoustic Guitar and Acoustic Piano Power Chords

Since power chords consist of only two different notes, you can learn to play them pretty easily. You can finger a power chord anywhere on the guitar fretboard. But without a doubt, the heaviest, darkest, most powerful sounding power chords are those you play on the bass strings. Low pitch plus massive dissonance combine to create a dark, ominous feeling.

Although power chords were invented for the purpose of enabling sonic comprehension of heavily distorted electric guitar, you can certainly play acousitic guitar power chords or piano power chords. The notes are exactly the same. It's just that acoustic power chords won't sound as heavy and ominous in the absence of distortion.

A couple of final points about power chords:

  • A power chord is usually symbolized by combining the letter-name of the root note with the number 5. For example:

    C5 or C fifth

  • Since the third is missing, you can’t tell whether the prevailing mode is major or minor. Heavy metal songwriters exploit this characteristic by making use of the Church modes for melodic purposes, resulting in a distinctive or signature sound.

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