Year 9 - Music
Riffs and power chords in grunge
The sound of 90s grunge
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
This unit introduces pupils to 90s Grunge music, including the context of the style and its other musical influences. Pupils learn about the main musical features and about extended pop song structure, riffs with power chords, harmonic rhythm and phrase structure in melody and lyric writing.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to create a grunge-style riff using power chords and a bass line based on the riff.
Key Notes
- A key feature of grunge (and most rock styles) is the use of riffs.
- Grunge riffs often use power chords, consisting of the root note and fifth.
- To play a power chord on the piano, we remove the middle note from a triad chord, or find the fifth note in the scale.
- Distortion is often added to electric guitar sounds, creating a fuzzy effect which distorts the sound.
- Bass lines in grunge are often based around the riff, using the root note of each chord.
Vocabulary To Learn
- Riff: A riff is a short, repeated musical idea that forms the basis of a pop or rock song.
- Power chord: A power chord is a two-note chord often used on guitars, which uses the root note and the fifth of a triad chord.
- Fifth: A fifth is a distance of five notes. For example, the distance from C to G is a fifth.
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Power chords are any two notes of the chord triad.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the lesson in two key points.
A key feature of grunge (and most rock styles) is the use of riffs. Grunge riffs often use power chords, consisting of the root note and fifth.
2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'Riff'
A riff is a short, repeated musical idea that forms the basis of a pop or rock song.
3. Correct this common mistake.
Mistake: Power chords are any two notes of the chord triad. Correction: For a chord to be a power chord it has to be the root and the fifth, not the root and the third. It also needs to be a perfect fifth. If pupils are working out their own power chords on the keyboard, some chords would use the black notes.
More Lessons In This Unit
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