It's funny how guitarists on RUclips love to misidentify punk as "simple" and that if you know a power chord and just downstroke, you're playing punk. Then they proceed to show you how by playing a Ramones song (which, for some reason, they think represents 50 years of a genre) and sound like garbage. Good video, cheers!
While Ramones doesn't play power chords it does hold for other classic punk bands. Misfits has quite a lot of songs that are only power chords. Discharge and Disclose doesn't use much else either. Minor Threat is pretty much power chord based and so on and so on. A lot of punk is power chord based and a lot of punk is really simple to play which was a huge part of the original attraction, that you dont have to be a skilled musician to be in a band or play music.
Inverted power chords, octaves, drone notes, dissonance, diminished/aug chords is where its at! I love that you mention Heart Attack Man, they are a huge inspiration to me. ❤
Go back to the classics: Bob Mould of Husker Du (and Sugar and solo) played a lot of power chords but he would often have a drone string or two. Bob would also play a lot of standard folk chords or variations of them interspersed with his power chords. He would capo his guitar and get an instant change of the drone strings. Same shapes, very different sounds. He also had an unusual bi-amp setup which made this possible, one amp running more clean and the other more dirty. Like a lot of guitar players of that era, he got a lot of this vocabulary from Andy Summers and Alex Lifeson. Andy played jazz chords with less gain in The Police. Alex played nearly everything with more gain in Rush... straight hard rock riffage, folk type chords, weird jazz voicings, and all the rest. Another guitar player of that time to check out is Roger Miller of Mission of Burma... same basic vocabulary of moving power chords or other chord fragments against open strings.
Powerchords are the chord equivalent of being stuck in shape 1 of the pentatonic scale. They’re great and have their place but there are so many other options out there and learning just a few will really expand your horizons making you sound and play better almost instantly. Theory is off putting to many but just learning the major scale and how to construct chords will serve you so well. All of the techniques discussed in this video can be understood and used in your own playing just from learning those 2 things.
That's a great comparison. They're similar in the way that everyone get's taught the basic cowboy chords when first starting out. I guess power chords are the punk rock equivalent to that, haha.
@@SugarpillProd This was actually blocker for me for years. When I learnt how to construct chords from scales and how to find different fingerings it was a game changer. I'm not really a great player now but I can come up with more interesting ideas and leads etc now. Using different voicing also trains your ear to recognise things beyond root and 5th which makes figuring stuff out by ear so much easier.
@@Thirteen31Music If you want to combine advanced harmony with power chords, they work well when evoking tonal ambiguity and modulating to different keys, because power chords are neither major nor minor. An E power chord can stand in for E major and E minor simultaneously. Nirvana "Lithium" is a perfect example. The E power chords glue the riff together as it modulates back and forth between E minor and E major every few bars. (Beato explanation: I know Cobain didn't know this in theory terms, but his ear knew it, and I know it, and now you know it, and can use it as you see fit)
Liverpool hoodie and a Telecaster... my man. A nice example of the stacked octave chords (a la Jimmy Eat World) is in Lagwagon's "Falling Apart" intro. Polar Bear Club are another great example of rarely using power chords. Things like these are what separate bands' sounds from each other IMO, whereas someone not into pop punk could just be like "these bands all sound the same". Great vid btw (as per usual)!
Dude kudos on the Blitzkreig Bop chords. I've been playing music over 20 years and heard that song over 500 times and never heard how much impact those extra notes made. This video was silly insightful.
Thanks! I think stuff like that is really easy to miss because it's such a classic song you'd assume all the lessons out there of people teaching it the same way are correct, so you'd never actually think to double check, haha.
I don't think Johnny Ramone played inverted chords because we wanted to play something 'more sophisticated' than just power chords, but rather because these were easier to play.
@@Swashbuckler9x Thanks! It's just some random chords I was playing in a previous video. So I just use it as a "score" now. I do get a lot of people ask though. Feels like a bit of a letdown when I say it isn't really anything haha.
@@SugarpillProd It's definitely something man. Care to release it as is? Even if you turn it into something else later. I'd love to let it breathe around while I'm driving. Definitely akin to Rats!Rats!Rats by Deftones.
whats wrong with power chords anyway?! not a big fan of funk by i learned guitar playing megadeth. 60% of their songs are power chords, 38% is solos 1% clean intros, and 1 last percent other chords. nothing wrong with it.
There's nothing wrong with them. All I'm saying is that people tend to oversimplify punk, specifically by claiming that *all* it is is power chords, but that's really not the case.
@@SugarpillProd got it, but all i mean is tell them. Even if that was the case, power chords dont make a song simple.. if they disagree tell them to play rust in piece by megadeth, especially the riffs after the tempo change. Not punk but still. Totally agree with you btw.
I like power chords as a layer a lot. If you put a power chord with a heavy tone on one pan and a higher voicing of the full chord on the other pan, you sound big.
I'm not exactly punk, more shoegaze, ambient, and stoner metal, but the harmonic vocabulary is shared. Increasing the level of harmonic complexity is neither good nor bad, just different sounds. They all mix; they can all be inverted and voiced different ways. Level 1: Power Chords and octaves, with all their inversions. Anything from two note Sabbath power chords to 5-6 note voicings on one guitar, can go bigger with more guitars. Level 2: Dyads (two part harmony), try major and minor thirds, fourths and fifths you saw in Level 1, major and minor sevenths also sound good and are very useful. Doubles very well with matching triads and seventh chords. Level 3: Triads. Three part harmony, spelled root+3+5. Barre versions work well, especially if there's only 1 guitar, but other versions work really well as a layer with 2 guitars, try different voicings. Level 4: Sus chords. Sus 2 is spelled root+5+9 usually. Sus 4 is spelled root+4+5 or root+5+11. As with triads, barres and other versions work well. Level 5: 7th chords. 4 part harmony, spelled root+3+5+7. As with triads, barres and other versions work well. These are more complex sounding, but can work really well. Level6: add9 chords. 4 part harmony, spelled root+3+5+9. Its a triad with an extra note for decoration. As with triads, barres and other versions work well. Level 7: 9th chords. 5 part harmony, spelled root+3+5+7+9. Getting complex, but with a smooth sound. The 7th is the difference between a 9th and an add9. Level 8: 7sus4. 5 part harmony, spelled root+3+4+5+7. Level 9+: 11th and 13th chords, other wild stuff. Did you know you can add any pitch to a pre-existing chord? Anyone trying to solo over it will either love or hate you.
Really enjoying the videos with narration now, good stuff! On the subject of this video, I once had a friend refer to Propagandhi's TETA as "All that power chord shite", he couldn't have been more wrong.
There are so many terrible video guides floating around. It's so nice to see someone who is actually accurate in their guides, and who focuses upon the subtleties of musical arrangements. Especially with regard to multiple overdubbed guitar tracks which are often completely overlooked among "popular" RUclipsrs like "Marty", whose guides are often completely wrong and teach horrible playing habits. Many thanks to SugarpillProductions for bucking this trend and actually getting it right! This is why I recommend you on my own RUclips page.
Thanks, I appreciate that! I can understand why that happens with channels like that, but it does unfortunately lead to a lot of misinformation out there. I guess when you're teaching tons of different genres, it's hard to really take a deep-dive into each one.
nice vids haha, it's my 3monthis into guitar journey, i picked punk coz i has been wanna do that since highschool, i can barely little bit doing barre chord , but i feel it when into blitzkrieg bop ,learning that with barre kinda easier for me especially when am standing up
That's great! Yeah, I feel a lot of techniques are basically born out of whatever feels comfortable to the player. The hard part is trying to learn other people's techniques that may not feel that way to you, so it's cool if it feels natural to you. Good luck with your journey!
Different Flavor British Guy or Just Too Many Drug? by Leon Toystory Did all the chemicals I put into my body finally take their toll on my brain or is this British guy a different flavor of British guy that I am used to hearing here. Is the other voice even British or is this British guy combined with the dextromethorphan over indulgence causing me to retcon the other guy into being a different British when he wasn't British at all? Is British real? I know Daggerfall is real and that Daggerfall was once as big as the British place but I think the Irvine Welsh people or the drunkard people (shout out to the drunkard so for being known as the drunkards when Russian literally evolved differently for drinking so much booze) decided British place wasn't the cool kids table no more and started their own British place with cocaine a strippers? Are you even still reading this? If so I tip a cow to you good or at least chaotic good sir. I'd offer you a reward but all I have is an abundance of dextromethorphann and that's mine! The man in hat made of shadows said I don't have to share so go find your own. FIN-2187
I fully agree with this video! I know very simple power chordy punk songs DO exist but I tend not to listen to those. Do you know of any bands that are actually basic power chord bands? I'm curious
Haha I was trying to think of some while I was making the video and it's actually hard to think of any that purely use power chords and nothing else. Even bands that people always say "only use 3 chords" like Green Day have a lot more going on underneath, when you actually break things down. Maybe some throwback bands who are purposely trying to keep things super rudimentary, like The Chats, but even then I haven't analysed their music enough to say that with any degree of confidence, haha.
I could very likely be wrong but I am very interested in this question so figured I’d chime in (mind you, I am a novice). Don’t early Sum 41 and Blink-182 use pretty much exclusively power chords? Referring to the Half Hour of Power, All Killer No Filler, and Does This Look Infected? era for Sum and the Buddha, Cheshire Cat, and Dude Ranch era for Blink. This doesn’t answer the original question of which bands exclusively used power chords since these bands grew to expand their chordal selections throughout their careers, but I still think it’s interesting :D
Can't speak on Sum 41 as I don't listen to them very often, but those early blink records definitely have a lot more going on than people think. I did make a video previously about the chords in Dammit that everyone get's wrong. I'd kind of assume Sum 41 would have more going on too, as they're both pretty accomplished guitarists.
Learn more about me, my productions and all the tools you’ll ever need to craft your own world-class punk & emo songs:
www.sugarpillproductions.com/
It's funny how guitarists on RUclips love to misidentify punk as "simple" and that if you know a power chord and just downstroke, you're playing punk. Then they proceed to show you how by playing a Ramones song (which, for some reason, they think represents 50 years of a genre) and sound like garbage. Good video, cheers!
And then proceed to play that "simple" Ramones song wrong too 😂 Cheers, thanks for watching!
Does this mean The Who might not be a punk band? 😉
While Ramones doesn't play power chords it does hold for other classic punk bands. Misfits has quite a lot of songs that are only power chords. Discharge and Disclose doesn't use much else either. Minor Threat is pretty much power chord based and so on and so on. A lot of punk is power chord based and a lot of punk is really simple to play which was a huge part of the original attraction, that you dont have to be a skilled musician to be in a band or play music.
@@hhdhpublicpunk has evolved from those bands you're clueless.
I like how at the beginning 'A Punk' is listed among the punk-themed videos
I get the same thing with Daft Punk too, haha.
@iliketrains3495 Love the profile pic 🤘
B-Punk however belongs yet is absent. Why do that? Why stars so far away? Is stars shy? Does stars odor?
Inverted power chords, octaves, drone notes, dissonance, diminished/aug chords is where its at! I love that you mention Heart Attack Man, they are a huge inspiration to me. ❤
Couldn't agree more!
Go back to the classics: Bob Mould of Husker Du (and Sugar and solo) played a lot of power chords but he would often have a drone string or two. Bob would also play a lot of standard folk chords or variations of them interspersed with his power chords. He would capo his guitar and get an instant change of the drone strings. Same shapes, very different sounds. He also had an unusual bi-amp setup which made this possible, one amp running more clean and the other more dirty. Like a lot of guitar players of that era, he got a lot of this vocabulary from Andy Summers and Alex Lifeson. Andy played jazz chords with less gain in The Police. Alex played nearly everything with more gain in Rush... straight hard rock riffage, folk type chords, weird jazz voicings, and all the rest. Another guitar player of that time to check out is Roger Miller of Mission of Burma... same basic vocabulary of moving power chords or other chord fragments against open strings.
Powerchords are the chord equivalent of being stuck in shape 1 of the pentatonic scale. They’re great and have their place but there are so many other options out there and learning just a few will really expand your horizons making you sound and play better almost instantly.
Theory is off putting to many but just learning the major scale and how to construct chords will serve you so well. All of the techniques discussed in this video can be understood and used in your own playing just from learning those 2 things.
That's a great comparison. They're similar in the way that everyone get's taught the basic cowboy chords when first starting out. I guess power chords are the punk rock equivalent to that, haha.
@@SugarpillProd This was actually blocker for me for years. When I learnt how to construct chords from scales and how to find different fingerings it was a game changer. I'm not really a great player now but I can come up with more interesting ideas and leads etc now. Using different voicing also trains your ear to recognise things beyond root and 5th which makes figuring stuff out by ear so much easier.
@@Thirteen31Music If you want to combine advanced harmony with power chords, they work well when evoking tonal ambiguity and modulating to different keys, because power chords are neither major nor minor. An E power chord can stand in for E major and E minor simultaneously. Nirvana "Lithium" is a perfect example. The E power chords glue the riff together as it modulates back and forth between E minor and E major every few bars.
(Beato explanation: I know Cobain didn't know this in theory terms, but his ear knew it, and I know it, and now you know it, and can use it as you see fit)
I love the riffs of rise against because of theyre simpleness, for example prayer of the refuge.. just octaves
I love a good anti-misinformation video. This was short, to the point, well made, and goddamn right. Nicely done
Thanks so much!
i feel like a really easy solution to this is to just fret a bit "sloppier" (fretting the third string to make a power chord a sus4 is good, actually)
you have some of the best videos on rock here on youtube. so to the point. so honest. great job dude. subscribed after 3 videos
Thanks so much. That really means a lot!
Liverpool hoodie and a Telecaster... my man. A nice example of the stacked octave chords (a la Jimmy Eat World) is in Lagwagon's "Falling Apart" intro. Polar Bear Club are another great example of rarely using power chords. Things like these are what separate bands' sounds from each other IMO, whereas someone not into pop punk could just be like "these bands all sound the same".
Great vid btw (as per usual)!
Dude kudos on the Blitzkreig Bop chords. I've been playing music over 20 years and heard that song over 500 times and never heard how much impact those extra notes made. This video was silly insightful.
Thanks! I think stuff like that is really easy to miss because it's such a classic song you'd assume all the lessons out there of people teaching it the same way are correct, so you'd never actually think to double check, haha.
your videos are so good (high quality) and helpful man lmao thank you
Thanks so much! I really appreciate that :)
@@SugarpillProd oh of course ur welcome! :)
I don't think Johnny Ramone played inverted chords because we wanted to play something 'more sophisticated' than just power chords, but rather because these were easier to play.
I would assume so too.
Love the song at the beginning, what's it called?
The music under my voiceover?
@@SugarpillProd Absolutely man. Beautiful rush of emotion.
@@Swashbuckler9x Thanks! It's just some random chords I was playing in a previous video. So I just use it as a "score" now. I do get a lot of people ask though. Feels like a bit of a letdown when I say it isn't really anything haha.
@@SugarpillProd It's definitely something man. Care to release it as is? Even if you turn it into something else later.
I'd love to let it breathe around while I'm driving.
Definitely akin to Rats!Rats!Rats by Deftones.
Regrats from Colombia 🇨🇴
❤
Jimmy eat world is always top tier
100%
All the small details by blink182? 3:42
Love it!
Thanks!
Please tell me the chords at the beginning.
really like the progression
I believe I'm playing it onscreen at some point during this video - ruclips.net/video/xxreQ4ONURA/видео.html
whats the song that is playing in the background from 1:09?
It's just a thing I wrote for one of my previous videos. I basically use it as a "score" now, haha.
@@SugarpillProdsounds amazing, kinda sonic youth-esque
how to make OG Emo song or Emoviolence
more Jimmy Eat World deep dive! 🤘🙂
Might do in the future!
whats wrong with power chords anyway?! not a big fan of funk by i learned guitar playing megadeth. 60% of their songs are power chords, 38% is solos 1% clean intros, and 1 last percent other chords. nothing wrong with it.
There's nothing wrong with them. All I'm saying is that people tend to oversimplify punk, specifically by claiming that *all* it is is power chords, but that's really not the case.
@@SugarpillProd got it, but all i mean is tell them. Even if that was the case, power chords dont make a song simple.. if they disagree tell them to play rust in piece by megadeth, especially the riffs after the tempo change. Not punk but still. Totally agree with you btw.
@@yuri-ub8kk"Tell them". That's what this video is doing my guy 😂
He’s not saying that!
Voice reveal? 😂
I guess you've not watched my videos in a hot minute 😂
Only the most boring Punk plays strictly power chords.
You don't know how I've been playing punk guitar. And you definitely are titling your videos wrong
I do and it's wrong.
none of the mentioned bands are real punks
I'm sure you're a real authority on the subject.
@@SugarpillProd It's not about authority, it's about attitude.
@@nadaqueentender I think you're misunderstanding the use of the word "authority" here.
@@SugarpillProd don't care about understanding your authority. Punk is against all authority. Everybody knows people in the video are posh, not punks.
@@nadaqueentender Again, that's not the point I was making. You're just misunderstanding the use of the word in this context.
I like power chords as a layer a lot. If you put a power chord with a heavy tone on one pan and a higher voicing of the full chord on the other pan, you sound big.
Definitely! The different voicings are really the key to making them sound more interesting.
I'm not exactly punk, more shoegaze, ambient, and stoner metal, but the harmonic vocabulary is shared. Increasing the level of harmonic complexity is neither good nor bad, just different sounds. They all mix; they can all be inverted and voiced different ways.
Level 1: Power Chords and octaves, with all their inversions. Anything from two note Sabbath power chords to 5-6 note voicings on one guitar, can go bigger with more guitars.
Level 2: Dyads (two part harmony), try major and minor thirds, fourths and fifths you saw in Level 1, major and minor sevenths also sound good and are very useful. Doubles very well with matching triads and seventh chords.
Level 3: Triads. Three part harmony, spelled root+3+5. Barre versions work well, especially if there's only 1 guitar, but other versions work really well as a layer with 2 guitars, try different voicings.
Level 4: Sus chords. Sus 2 is spelled root+5+9 usually. Sus 4 is spelled root+4+5 or root+5+11. As with triads, barres and other versions work well.
Level 5: 7th chords. 4 part harmony, spelled root+3+5+7. As with triads, barres and other versions work well. These are more complex sounding, but can work really well.
Level6: add9 chords. 4 part harmony, spelled root+3+5+9. Its a triad with an extra note for decoration. As with triads, barres and other versions work well.
Level 7: 9th chords. 5 part harmony, spelled root+3+5+7+9. Getting complex, but with a smooth sound. The 7th is the difference between a 9th and an add9.
Level 8: 7sus4. 5 part harmony, spelled root+3+4+5+7.
Level 9+: 11th and 13th chords, other wild stuff. Did you know you can add any pitch to a pre-existing chord? Anyone trying to solo over it will either love or hate you.
Perfectly on point as always and so damn true, there's always something more going on under the main chords...
Thanks, much appreciated!
At the drive in use more complex chords than even some prog bands.
You’ve been playing punk guitar all wrong...
...which is the key to playing punk guitar.
I always called them "power hook chords". Mr.Cobain did them all the time.
Really enjoying the videos with narration now, good stuff!
On the subject of this video, I once had a friend refer to Propagandhi's TETA as "All that power chord shite", he couldn't have been more wrong.
Thanks! Prop is definitely one of the worst bands you could level that accusation at 😂
Are you familiar with Slick Shoes and their album "Burnout?" I love the sound on that album 🤙
I am! I've always liked that mini subgenre of more technical punk / pop punk like them and Rufio.
Love the Heart Attack Man reference, they rip!!!
They do indeed!
Harmony and rhythm are the most important things in playing punk well.
Playing anything well. ;)
@@crimfan true
YES LOS CAMPESINOS RANDOMLY MENTIONED AT THE END
There are so many terrible video guides floating around. It's so nice to see someone who is actually accurate in their guides, and who focuses upon the subtleties of musical arrangements. Especially with regard to multiple overdubbed guitar tracks which are often completely overlooked among "popular" RUclipsrs like "Marty", whose guides are often completely wrong and teach horrible playing habits.
Many thanks to SugarpillProductions for bucking this trend and actually getting it right! This is why I recommend you on my own RUclips page.
Thanks, I appreciate that! I can understand why that happens with channels like that, but it does unfortunately lead to a lot of misinformation out there. I guess when you're teaching tons of different genres, it's hard to really take a deep-dive into each one.
Good vid
poor bastard is probably making great points, just can't comprehend anything he's saying 😂
Fair 🤣
@@SugarpillProd
It does sound quiet
AND fast...🤔
ayo props for mentioning jeff rosenstock
It's crazy how much I learned from these videos! I'm definitely using these going forward... Thanks!
That's awesome to hear AJ. Hope you're good!
Saying to a punk that the way he's playing is wrong is the least punk thing to do.
It's as though you didn't even watch the video...
LC!
nice vids haha, it's my 3monthis into guitar journey, i picked punk coz i has been wanna do that since highschool, i can barely little bit doing barre chord , but i feel it when into blitzkrieg bop ,learning that with barre kinda easier for me especially when am standing up
That's great! Yeah, I feel a lot of techniques are basically born out of whatever feels comfortable to the player. The hard part is trying to learn other people's techniques that may not feel that way to you, so it's cool if it feels natural to you. Good luck with your journey!
Different Flavor British Guy or Just Too Many Drug?
by Leon Toystory
Did all the chemicals I put into my body finally take their toll on my brain or is this British guy a different flavor of British guy that I am used to hearing here. Is the other voice even British or is this British guy combined with the dextromethorphan over indulgence causing me to retcon the other guy into being a different British when he wasn't British at all?
Is British real? I know Daggerfall is real and that Daggerfall was once as big as the British place but I think the Irvine Welsh people or the drunkard people (shout out to the drunkard so for being known as the drunkards when Russian literally evolved differently for drinking so much booze) decided British place wasn't the cool kids table no more and started their own British place with cocaine a strippers?
Are you even still reading this? If so I tip a cow to you good or at least chaotic good sir. I'd offer you a reward but all I have is an abundance of dextromethorphann and that's mine! The man in hat made of shadows said I don't have to share so go find your own.
FIN-2187
WTF is this unhinged shit? 😂
@@SugarpillProd Art is how I prefer to describe it. Though some may call it nonsense but I say there is a fine line between the two.
Thanks
👍
*YES*
🙏
I fully agree with this video! I know very simple power chordy punk songs DO exist but I tend not to listen to those.
Do you know of any bands that are actually basic power chord bands? I'm curious
Haha I was trying to think of some while I was making the video and it's actually hard to think of any that purely use power chords and nothing else. Even bands that people always say "only use 3 chords" like Green Day have a lot more going on underneath, when you actually break things down.
Maybe some throwback bands who are purposely trying to keep things super rudimentary, like The Chats, but even then I haven't analysed their music enough to say that with any degree of confidence, haha.
I could very likely be wrong but I am very interested in this question so figured I’d chime in (mind you, I am a novice). Don’t early Sum 41 and Blink-182 use pretty much exclusively power chords? Referring to the Half Hour of Power, All Killer No Filler, and Does This Look Infected? era for Sum and the Buddha, Cheshire Cat, and Dude Ranch era for Blink. This doesn’t answer the original question of which bands exclusively used power chords since these bands grew to expand their chordal selections throughout their careers, but I still think it’s interesting :D
Can't speak on Sum 41 as I don't listen to them very often, but those early blink records definitely have a lot more going on than people think. I did make a video previously about the chords in Dammit that everyone get's wrong.
I'd kind of assume Sum 41 would have more going on too, as they're both pretty accomplished guitarists.