Inverted Power Chords
Power chords are a staple in rock music and have been used to create some of the most iconic riffs in rock n’ roll history. In this lesson we’re going to take a quick look at inverted power chords, which are some of the heaviest sounding chords there are.
Power Chords
If you’re not familiar, power chords are chords that are made up of two notes, a root and 5th. Because they lack the 3rd of tertiary chords, power chords don’t take on a major or minor quality. This makes power chords really flexible when applied to chord progressions.
Inverted Power Chords
Just like any other chord, the power chord can be inverted to create different voicings.
An inverted chord is when a note other than the root note is in the bass position (lowest note) of the chord. In the case of the power chord, this would be when the 5th is in the bass position. There are a few variations to the inverted power chord, so let’s have a look.
Inverted Power Chords – 2 notes
In its most basic form, the inverted power chord has one instance of each note. Below are examples of 2-note power chords with the 5th as the bass note on strings 4, 5, and 6.
Inverted Power Chords – 3 notes
To create a more full sound, you can double the 5th to create 3-note inverted power chords. The diagrams below show 3-note power chords with the 5th in the bass position of the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th strings.
Inverted Power Chords – 4 notes
We can take this a step further and create 4-note power chords by doubling both the root and 5th, as shown below.
These inverted power chords tend to have a heavier, fuller sound to them. You’ll see these more often used in heavy metal than probably any other genre of music.
Wrap up
Power chords are really versatile chords that can work in almost any situation. Same goes for the inverted versions as well. They’re a bit heavier sounding and lend themselves well to rock ‘n roll and heavy metal music, particularly when played overdriven or with distortion. That said, they’re not confined to this style of music and work well across many genres.
Cheatsheet for this lesson is available on Patreon.
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