Editing Power chord (section)

==History==

The first written instance of a power chord for guitar in the 20th century is to be found in the "Preludes" of [[Heitor Villa-Lobos]], a Brazilian composer of the early twentieth century. Although classical guitar composer [[Francisco Tárrega]] used it before him, modern musicians use Villa-Lobos's version to this day. Power chords' use in rock music can be traced back to commercial recordings in the 1950s. [[Robert Palmer (American writer)|Robert Palmer]] pointed to [[electric blues]] guitarists [[Willie Johnson (guitarist)|Willie Johnson]] and [[Pat Hare]], both of whom played for [[Sun Records]] in the early 1950s, as the true originators of the power chord, citing as evidence Johnson's playing on [[Howlin' Wolf]]'s "[[How Many More Years]]" (recorded 1951) and Hare's playing on [[James Cotton]]'s "[[:File:James Cotton - Cotton Crop Blues.ogg|Cotton Crop Blues]]" (recorded 1954).<ref>{{cite book |last=Palmer |first=Robert |editor-last=DeCurtis |editor-first=Anthony |date=1992 |title=Present Tense: Rock & Roll and Culture |chapter=Church of the Sonic Guitar |publisher=Duke University Press |location=Durham, N.C. |isbn=0-8223-1265-4 |pages=13–38}}</ref> [[Scotty Moore]] opened [[Elvis Presley]]'s 1957 hit "[[Jailhouse Rock (song)|Jailhouse Rock]]" with power chords.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://porterbriggs.com/4-guitarists-who-changed-southern-music-scotty-moore/|title=4 Guitarists Who Changed Southern Music (Part 2): Scotty Moore|date=8 January 2018|website=porterbriggs.com|access-date=3 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107055127/http://porterbriggs.com/4-guitarists-who-changed-southern-music-scotty-moore/|archive-date=7 November 2017}}</ref> The "power chord" as known to modern electric guitarists was popularized first by [[Link Wray]], who built on the distorted electric guitar sound of early records and by tearing the speaker cone in his 1958 instrumental "Rumble."

A later [[Hit single|hit song]] built around power chords was "[[You Really Got Me]]" by [[the Kinks]], released in [[1964 in music|1964]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Walser |first=Robert |date=1993 |title=Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music |publisher=Wesleyan University Press |location=Middletown, Connecticut |isbn=0-8195-6260-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/runningwithdevil00wals/page/9 9] |url=https://archive.org/details/runningwithdevil00wals/page/9 }}</ref> This song's [[riff]]s exhibit fast power-chord changes. [[The&nbsp;Who]]'s guitarist, [[Pete&nbsp;Townshend]], performed power chords with a theatrical windmill-strum,<ref name="DenyerPower" >{{harvtxt|Denyer|1992|loc="The advanced guitarist; Power chords and fret tapping: Power chords", p. 156}}</ref><ref>{{harvtxt|Denyer|1992|loc="The Guitar Innovators: Pete Townshend", pp. 22–23}}</ref> for example in "[[My Generation]]".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x37j9_the-who-my-generation_music |title=The Who - My Generation - Video Dailymotion |access-date=2013-06-14 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131205072142/http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x37j9_the-who-my-generation_music |archive-date=2013-12-05}}
</ref> On [[King Crimson]]'s [[Red (King Crimson album)|''Red'' album]], [[Robert Fripp]] thrashed with power chords.<ref>{{harvtxt|Tamm|2002|loc=[http://www.progressiveears.com/frippbook/ch12.htm Chapter Twelve: Chapter Twelve: Objective Art; Fripp's musical legacy: Melody]}}: {{citation |last=Tamm |first=Eric |author-link=Eric Tamm (musicologist) |date=2003 |orig-year=1990 |title=Robert Fripp: From crimson king to crafty master |edition=Progressive Ears |publisher=Faber and Faber (1990) |isbn=0-571-16289-4 |id=[http://www.erictamm.com/rf.zip Zipped Microsoft Word Document] |url=http://www.progressiveears.com/frippbook |access-date=25 March 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321220457/http://www.progressiveears.com/frippbook/ |archive-date=21 March 2012}}</ref> Power chords are important in many forms of [[punk rock]] music, popularized in the genre by [[Ramones]] guitarist [[Johnny Ramone]]. Many punk guitarists used only power chords in their songs, most notably [[Billie Joe Armstrong]] and [[Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein]].