Question:
i am constantly writing new music and experimenting with new sounds and there are two things right now that i am experimenting with and am yet to find a method i like, #1 singing chords, i grew up constantly listening to classic rock like Styx and Queen and my band has 4 members with a pending fifth, 2 (our lead and our drummer) are great singers, i and our pianist are decent but not so great singers and the fifth i would never dream about asking him to sing *shudders*, what's the best way to go about this? Our is a tenor (who can sing/scream while drumming, a true sight to see), our Bassist/lead vocals is baritone with an amazing range, i sing bass but can go a little higher, and our pianist sings bass....
#2 this one is easy, a lot of bands play really heavy and so far i've been writing with basic root-5- octave powerchords but i've noticed that some bands have more of a "colored" or different tone to them and am wondering if that's in my amp or in the technique, maybe they might be augmented but i'm not sure, think opening of dangerous business by U0..
thanks
Answer:
I'm not that knowledged in singing so i'll skip to number two.
The color could be in the amp...But it is most likely different voicings/additions of the power chord. Like try putting the fifth of the power chord in the bass like so. Hear is a C power chord with the fifth in the bass, it really adds alot of color to it.
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-
-
5
3
3
another technique that I really like to use to spice up power chords(and john petrucci of dream theater likes as well) is to add a 9th to it, it would be most commonly called a 5sus2 chord, it is also stacked fifths. It may be difficult to finger at first but it is worth the effort, just practice the shapes up the neck first and slowly bring them down to stretch your fingers out. Here is an example of A5sus2(or 5add9) power chord, spelled A E B
9
7
5
quite the stretch at first, but worth the effort. Those are the most common ways of coloring up a stock power chord. Hope i could be of assistance.