chord voicings that work with higher gain

[hank]

on another thread someone (degenaro?) mentioned there are like a dozen chord voicings that work well with gain. I know the basic "rock chord" - 1st and 5th and often I'll add the octave (8th) too. What are the others that people are using?

 

[ttosh]

I think it is interesting to say a dozen voicing s work with gain, however Ed would know. I know I use major and minor and a lot of added sevenths to my stuff. I need to sit down and actually think through all the voicing s I use currently with gain. I am probably using some that are not meant to sound good with gain, maybe I should listen more closely....

 

[hank]

well let's just get it out there that you can play ANY chord with gain but some are going to work/sound a lot better than others. So which are the ones that work/sound the best in general and/or are used the most?

 

[nbarts]

usually those that include the same note octave up. gives a beefier fundamental tone.

 

[degenaro]

One of my fave grips is the root-fifth-nine...
in a that be 5th fret, low e string, 7th fret A string, 9th fret D string.

 

[hank]

to start closer to the beginning, a powerchord is a 5 chord as in A5 or E5. You fret a root note and it's 5th note and there you are. Is "5 chord" the correct technical name? I'll also use powerchords comprising a root and it's 4th, a root and 3rd, and a root and flat 3rd. Do these have "real" names?

And for the root and 4th, for example fretting at 6th string 5th fret (A) and 5th string 5th fret (D), is that an A something or is it an inverted D5 with the 5th in the bass or can it be either depending on the context/usage?

 

[Jack Napalm]

This might help give you a few ideas and you probably already play a few of them. Some sound better than others depending on the gain structure. Fuzz seems to work better than distortion. Hi-overdriven gain sounds pretty good with these.

The Red notes are the root notes. Triangles are optiona. On the C7-C7#9 the triangle is what makes it the #9 chord. Hendrix used this a lot. The open triangle is there to represent the root note. You have probably played this chord at some point.

Technically two notes don't make a chord but they work in rock and illustrate the point.

This also gave me a chance to try out my the new neck diagram software I have.

 

[amiller]

...
This also gave me a chance to try out my the new neck diagram software I have.

Hey, tell me about the neck diagram software.

 

[Jack Napalm]

http://www.neckdiagrams.com/

Watch the screencast. It does a good job.

 

[degenaro]

This might help give you a few ideas and you probably already play a few of them. Some sound better than others depending on the gain structure. Fuzz seems to work better than distortion. Hi-overdriven gain sounds pretty good with these.

The Red notes are the root notes. Triangles are optiona. On the C7-C7#9 the triangle is what makes it the #9 chord. Hendrix used this a lot. The open triangle is there to represent the root note. You have probably played this chord at some point.

Technically two notes don't make a chord but they work in rock and illustrate the point.

This also gave me a chance to try out my the new neck diagram software I have.

Your second chord is a V chord or actually parts thereof. As in if you play an A power chord and move the index a half step down you get an E/G#.
Your sus4 really is just the upper half of a power chord. Which come to think of...a power chord is root-fifth-octave. root-fifth is "merely an interval.

 

[hank]

One of my fave grips is the root-fifth-nine...
in a that be 5th fret, low e string, 7th fret A string, 9th fret D string.

tried it - nice. It's a bit difficult stretch for me with my small hands and short fingers. I'll keep practicing it for a while but I'm naturally inflexible and I'm not getting any younger. We'll see how it goes...

 

[hank]

to start closer to the beginning, a powerchord is a 5 chord as in A5 or E5. You fret a root note and it's 5th note and there you are. Is "5 chord" the correct technical name? I'll also use powerchords comprising a root and it's 4th, a root and 3rd, and a root and flat 3rd. Do these have "real" names?

And for the root and 4th, for example fretting at 6th string 5th fret (A) and 5th string 5th fret (D), is that an A something or is it an inverted D5 with the 5th in the bass or can it be either depending on the context/usage?

ok, so after a little research it appears that the root and 4th is an INVERSION of the power chord, like the power chord turned upside down note-wise. The root is on the higher string and the 5th on the lower/bass string. This is the power chord form Blackmore used for Smoke On The Water. And instead of strumming them he plucked both strings simultaneously.

So for example, fretting at 6th string 5th fret (A) and 5th string 5th fret (D), give you the inverted form of the D5 power chord.

As someone else mentioned, these aren't "real" chords if you want to be strictly technical, they are intervals. The root and the 3rd gives you a major sound and the root and flat 3rd a minor sound. The power chord, since it doesn't contain a 3rd (flat or natural) is ambiguous sounding so I guess it can go either way depending on the context.

 

[Jack Napalm]

to start closer to the beginning, a powerchord is a 5 chord as in A5 or E5. You fret a root note and it's 5th note and there you are. Is "5 chord" the correct technical name? I'll also use powerchords comprising a root and it's 4th, a root and 3rd, and a root and flat 3rd. Do these have "real" names?

And for the root and 4th, for example fretting at 6th string 5th fret (A) and 5th string 5th fret (D), is that an A something or is it an inverted D5 with the 5th in the bass or can it be either depending on the context/usage?

ok, so after a little research it appears that the root and 4th is an INVERSION of the power chord, like the power chord turned upside down note-wise. The root is on the higher string and the 5th on the lower/bass string. This is the power chord form Blackmore used for Smoke On The Water. And instead of strumming them he plucked both strings simultaneously.

So for example, fretting at 6th string 5th fret (A) and 5th string 5th fret (D), give you the inverted form of the D5 power chord.

As someone else mentioned, these aren't "real" chords if you want to be strictly technical, they are intervals. The root and the 3rd gives you a major sound and the root and flat 3rd a minor sound. The power chord, since it doesn't contain a 3rd (flat or natural) is ambiguous sounding so I guess it can go either way depending on the context.

Yeah the root and the 4th is an inversion of a 5 Chord. You could use it either way since it isn't technically a chord at all. But it sounds good.

 

[stephen sawall]

One of my fave grips is the root-fifth-nine...
in a that be 5th fret, low e string, 7th fret A string, 9th fret D string.

tried it - nice. It's a bit difficult stretch for me with my small hands and short fingers. I'll keep practicing it for a while but I'm naturally inflexible and I'm not getting any younger. We'll see how it goes...

It is much easier to achieve this voicing if you use drop D tunning.

 

[hank]

One of my fave grips is the root-fifth-nine...
in a that be 5th fret, low e string, 7th fret A string, 9th fret D string.

tried it - nice. It's a bit difficult stretch for me with my small hands and short fingers. I'll keep practicing it for a while but I'm naturally inflexible and I'm not getting any younger. We'll see how it goes...

It is much easier to achieve this voicing if you use drop D tunning.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

One of my fave grips is the root-fifth-nine...
in a that be 5th fret, low e string, 7th fret A string, 9th fret D string.

This is the intro chord to Vai-Alcatrazz "God Blessed Video"

 

[War Admiral]

One of my fave grips is the root-fifth-nine...
in a that be 5th fret, low e string, 7th fret A string, 9th fret D string.

This is the intro chord to Vai-Alcatrazz "God Blessed Video"

That add9 chord is actually used alot in rock from the Police right to Queensryche...

 

[War Admiral]

This might help give you a few ideas and you probably already play a few of them. Some sound better than others depending on the gain structure. Fuzz seems to work better than distortion. Hi-overdriven gain sounds pretty good with these.

The Red notes are the root notes. Triangles are optiona. On the C7-C7#9 the triangle is what makes it the #9 chord. Hendrix used this a lot. The open triangle is there to represent the root note. You have probably played this chord at some point.

Technically two notes don't make a chord but they work in rock and illustrate the point.

This also gave me a chance to try out my the new neck diagram software I have.

Your second chord is a V chord or actually parts thereof. As in if you play an A power chord and move the index a half step down you get an E/G#.
Your sus4 really is just the upper half of a power chord. Which come to think of...a power chord is root-fifth-octave. root-fifth is "merely an interval.

Ed, wouldn't you agree that there is no difference between your power chord root-fifth-octave and your root-fifth? Theres only 2 notes in both of them...the tonic and the fifth. Technically, neither of them is a chord.