In the previous century, an electric guitar appeared, and after that - new ways of sound production. Rock musicians began to apply 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. In order to fix this and combine beauty with sophistication, along with hard rock, there was such a technique of sound extraction as a fifth. What it is and how to apply it will be described in detail below.
What is remarkable about this technique?
There are many chords - from the simplest (on which you can build any song) to the most complicated ones used by world-famous virtuosos. However, with the advent of the founding fathers of heavy metal — the Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, Deep Perple, and Ice Cepellin — practical fifth chords were invented.
Musicians of the above groups introduced overdrive and intentional overload of the amplifier to rock and roll, which became the main characteristic of the new weighted style. It became uncomfortable 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 ubiquitous and is used among leading metallers around the world. It is known that the fifth is the same power chords (power chord). However, data on the genius who was the first to invent such a variation of playing the electric guitar, to this day remain a topic of heated debate.
Meaning of the word “fifth”
- The general meaning is the word "five" (from the Latin quinta).
- The term is the designation of the fifth note of one octave relative to the very first of them.
- For bowed instruments, the fifth is the thinnest string.
- Quintet - a team of five people.
- In fencing, the fifth way to strike.
- In the Lotto game, a row occupied by five dice.
- In music, an interval that spans all five levels of the gamut.
- Diatonic scale of five steps.
The essence of sound
The secret lies in the fact that a higher fifth is added to the standard selected key. The key tonic is located on a 5-6 string, and such a chord contains only three notes. However, power chords (fifths) are something inferior, without an 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).
Such sound extraction allows the electric guitar to produce an aggressive, strong and clean audio stream. By the way, fifths are used both for complex riffs and for leading rhythm parts. If you want to learn how to play songs like Kirk Hammett or Yngwie Malmsteen, you must definitely learn that a fifth is the most reliable way to play quickly and efficiently.
Legend
The gamma consists of seven notes (steps) that follow each other in a specific order. They are major or minor. Quintas on the guitar 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, the third note is responsible for minor or majority. It is not in the fifth, because it is essentially the interval between two steps. Power chords in the notation are supplemented by the number five, for example: A5, E5, F5.
Building Standard Chords
To create a triad of Am, you need to take three notes: 1, 3, and 5 from the scale in A minor, and for major A - the same from the scale in A major. Only the third stage of the scale distinguishes them from each other. Power chords are placed on the thickest strings (4-6) of the fretboard, with one more step from the more “sonorous” (high) octave added to them. Therefore, it is so important to know the correct position of notes on the neck.
How to determine where to put your fingers?
There is a special table to deal with this issue. For example, to play D5, you need to press the 6th string on the 10th fret with your index finger, and the 5th fret with the ring finger, but only a couple of frets higher. In the version with three strings, an additional 4 strings are clamped and two frets are added relative to the first stage. Each fifth can be constructed in a similar way.
Game ways
Power chords using the distortion lotion are best played with a pick. For a special effect, the strings can be jammed with the side of the right hand. The movements are usually single, directed from top to bottom (or vice versa).
In fingering to fifth chords, crosses indicate strings that do not need to be touched. You can build them on any fret and use only a convenient pick.
The power chord is the interval between the 1st and 5th steps - this is the fifth. What is a guitar, everyone knows - this is a universal tool that allows you to experiment and create a new sound.