# Earliest use of the crunchy guitar sound/power cords in rock **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 27, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-the-crunchy-guitar-sound-power-cords-in-rock/551711 "2010-08-27T20:08:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-the-crunchy-guitar-sound-power-cords-in-rock/551711/21 "2010-08-30T22:18:57Z")
But it depends on the distortion. I play simple triads (I-III-V) with lots of distortion all the time. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-the-crunchy-guitar-sound-power-cords-in-rock/551711/22 "2010-08-30T22:50:21Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > If I understand you, you’re referring to the eighth-note shuffle beat that was characteristic of a lot of early rock and roll, but that’s not the same as a power chord. No, it’s not a power chord in the sense that it’s used today, but I’m trying to trace the lineage, and the third-less voicing (root-fifth, root-sixth, root-dominant seventh) can be traced down to blues. To me, it seems pretty reasonable to surmise that this voicing in rock came through this tradition. It’s a pretty big departure from classical harmony, where the third is arguably the most important note. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-the-crunchy-guitar-sound-power-cords-in-rock/551711/23 "2010-08-30T23:09:32Z")
> [@Ichbin\_Dubist](#): > > Pat Hare, [“I’m Gonna Murder My Baby”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E26dBq-98Po) (1954) Thanks for the link! He did, you know. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-the-crunchy-guitar-sound-power-cords-in-rock/551711/24 "2010-08-30T23:21:03Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > But it depends on the distortion. I play simple triads (I-III-V) with lots of distortion all the time. Now, I’m curious if your chord third is major or minor. Because although the “muddiness” of the chord is certainly one concern, another I’ve heard is that because of the aesthetic nature of overdriven guitar amps, it’s impossible to consider it functional tonality as such. It doesn’t surprise me that you or someone else would play a full triad, or even a seventh chord. I don’t see the concern about “distortion” as much in more contemporary rock music. While power chords certainly still do have their place, you can’t tell me that industrial bands like NIN or death metal bands are concerned that there’s “too much distortion” in their music. It’s a different aesthetic, and those values are inapplicable. ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-the-crunchy-guitar-sound-power-cords-in-rock/551711/25 "2010-08-30T23:36:45Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > > [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > > > If I understand you, you’re referring to the eighth-note shuffle beat that was characteristic of a lot of early rock and roll, but that’s not the same as a power chord. > > No, it’s not a power chord in the sense that it’s used today, but I’m trying to trace the lineage, and the third-less voicing (root-fifth, root-sixth, root-dominant seventh) can be traced down to blues. To me, it seems pretty reasonable to surmise that this voicing in rock came through this tradition. It’s a pretty big departure from classical harmony, where the third is arguably the most important note. But bare fifths still have been used idiomatically in opera. You find them in Verdi’s works, and (as I’ve already mentioned) G.F. Handel. It’s not as though Robert Johnson et. al. invented bare fifth, although they are undoubtedly coming from a much different tradition. ---
**Author:** ![Kim\_o\_the\_Concrete\_Jungle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ee7513/32.png) [@Kim\_o\_the\_Concrete\_Jungle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kim_o_the_Concrete_Jungle)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-the-crunchy-guitar-sound-power-cords-in-rock/551711/26 "2010-08-30T23:52:03Z")
> [@](#): > > This is coming from a musicology major who knows little about rock music, but I always thought it was more because triads sounded bad overdriven, rather than bare fifths sounding great. That is to say, if the chord third is present, the chord sounds so muddy and distorted, that it won’t “function” as a major/minor triad, anyway. The bare fifth is so consonant that the distortion in each individual tone becomes negligible to the overall chord’s sound. > > … > > Now, I’m curious if your chord third is major or minor. Because although the “muddiness” of the chord is certainly one concern, another I’ve heard is that because of the aesthetic nature of overdriven guitar amps, it’s impossible to consider it functional tonality as such. It’s a matter of degrees. Depending on the settings, it’s still possible to play fully voiced chords and have them function in the usual way, even with extreme distortion. But because of the harmonics the distortion emphasizes, it’s too easy to create dissonance and hammer tones. That’s fine if you want to be like Joey Santiago in The Pixies, but otherwise, the old root-fifth-octave power chord keeps your harmonics all nicely lined up and is pleasing to the ear. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-the-crunchy-guitar-sound-power-cords-in-rock/551711/27 "2010-08-31T00:01:41Z")
> [@antonio107](#): > > > [@pulykamell](#): > > > > No, it’s not a power chord in the sense that it’s used today, but I’m trying to trace the lineage, and the third-less voicing (root-fifth, root-sixth, root-dominant seventh) can be traced down to blues. To me, it seems pretty reasonable to surmise that this voicing in rock came through this tradition. It’s a pretty big departure from classical harmony, where the third is arguably the most important note. > > But bare fifths still have been used idiomatically in opera. You find them in Verdi’s works, and (as I’ve already mentioned) G.F. Handel. It’s not as though Robert Johnson et. al. invented bare fifth, although they are undoubtedly coming from a much different tradition. Yes–in case it’s unclear, I’m saying that the influence on rock probably came through the blues tradition, not Verdi or Handel. Yes, third-less harmony isn’t exactly unknown in the classical tradition, but it’s fairly rare. The influence on pop music, I would guess, comes from the blues tradition. Also, my assumption is the reason bare fifths are popular in the blues tradition is because of the ambiguity of the third. It’s easier to play around with the major/minor/in-between third in the melody when you don’t have the harmony cementing it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-the-crunchy-guitar-sound-power-cords-in-rock/551711/28 "2010-08-31T00:06:56Z")
I should add that I don’t mean that bare fifths were rare in classical music, but to center an entire composition around a harmonic structure that avoids the third was. ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-the-crunchy-guitar-sound-power-cords-in-rock/551711/29 "2010-08-31T00:30:10Z")
Agree with you on both points, Mr. Turkey Breast. I don’t know enough about popular musics to offer any greater insight, except to say that the _level_ of distortion certainly affects how prevalent the chord third will be. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-the-crunchy-guitar-sound-power-cords-in-rock/551711.md?page=1)