Difficulty: Easy - Intermediate
Composer - Tom Scholz
Where to find this song - Boston track #1
Release Date - September 1976
The Band:
Tom Schotz - guitar, keyboard, effects, bass, percussion, clavenet
Brad Delp - vocals
Fran Sheehan - bass
Jim Masdea - drums
Boston's self-titled debut was one of the best-selling albums of all time. Due to the rise of disco and punk, FM rock radio were all but dead until Boston. Nearly every song on Boston's album is still heard on classic radio stations due to the amazing duality of vocalist Brad Delp and Tom Scholz.
The chorus riff to "More Than A Feeling" is played with just power chords.
Power chords can be fun and easy to play. You can hear them in all types of music, but most people associate them with hard rock styles of music.
Power chords are not really chords. Chords are 3 notes or more, whereas power chords only have 2 different notes. A more correct name would be "power intervals" because they only contain two different notes. Usually power chords are composed of the root, a perfect 5th interval, and the root note doubled at a higher pitch (called an octave). Basically they are just like playing perfect 5th intervals and doubling up a note or two.
Power chords are easy to play just about anywhere on the neck, but lend very little harmonic texture to a song. They do not have a major or minor third interval. A chord needs this interval in order to make it a major or minor chord.
If you're playing a song with a lot of distortion, strumming a full chord might create too much dissonance. Plus if you have a fast chord change, it's often easier to use power chords for the really fast part.
There are two basic power chord patterns in this song:
Here's what it sounds like looped at the normal tempo of 116 bpm:
Begin the first and third measures by placing your 1st finger on the third fret on the "low E" string. Then, place your 3rd finger on the fifth fret on the "A" string. After you have done that, place your 4th finger on the fifth fret on the the "D" string. Play that twice, and then slide to the eighth fret on the same string with your other fingers following in the same pattern.( When playing power chords you will always keep two fingers behind the 1st finger with a fret in between the 1st finger and the 3rd and 4th fingers). Remember, a slide is when you allow your fingers to barely touch the strings and slide to the desired note on the fret board. Play that about three times, and proceed to the next measure.
The second and fourth measures have a few mutes, so be sure to include them in between desired notes. Begin by placing your 1st finger on the seventh fret on the "A" string. Place your 3rd and 4th fingers on the ninth frets of both the "D" string and the "G" string. Play that once, mute the strings, and then play it two times more. Here is where you have to be prepared for the time signature, so listen closely. (When muting strings, place your fingers in much the same way that you would a slide, but just don't slide. The feeling is almost identical). Once you have played that, move to the fifth fret on the same string with your fingers placed accordingly, and play that twice to end the measure. Don't forget to let off the "A" string to end it and play the open note once.