Power Chords

It is recommended that you check out the following lessons before reading this one:

• Chord Construction
• The Major Scale

This lesson will cover a simple chord commonly referred to as a power chord. The power chord is used mostly in Rock music. Its used a lot, and is very versatile.

The power chord is essentially a Barre chord minus the bottom 4 strings.

E||---------------------||
B||---------------------||
G||---------------------||
D||---------------------||
A||--5----6----7--------||
E||--3----4----5--------||

     G5   Ab5  A5

But it is also a little more complicated than that. (isn't it always?) You will notice that I labeled the chords above as G5, Ab5 and A5. What's the 5 for? I am glad you asked. 

Remember the Chord Construction lesson? In that lesson, we constructed chords using various rules for major, minor and diminished chords. Well the power chord also follows a rule as well. Instead of 3 notes, a power chord consists of only 2 notes. The root, and its fifth. The fifth you ask? yup, the fifth. The fifth note of the root in the major scale. Lets take it from the beginning. Here is the A Major scale.

It starts at the A, and if we look at the fifth note of this scale, it is an E. So to make an A power chord, we use the A note, and its fifth, the E. Like this:

E||-----------||
B||-----------||
G||-----------||
D||-----------||
A||--7--------||
E||--5--------||

An A5. Pretty simple. The power chord is moveable, you can play on other places on the neck.

E||----------------------||
B||----------------------||
G||----------------------||
D||-------5----6---------||
A||--4----3----4----3----||
E||--2--------------1----||

Often, a 3rd note is added to a power chord. The third note is simply the octave of the root.

E||-----------------||
B||-----------------||
G||-----------------||
D||--5----6----7----||
A||--5----6----7----||
E||--3----4----5----||

        G5   Ab5   A5

Usually, you use the index finger and ring finger to make a power chord. (The index finger presses on the root note, the ring finger on the 5th) For the 3rd note, use your ring finger to sound it as well, although you can use your pinky, it is not usually the way it is played.....but hey, whatever works.

This is probably more than you need to know about the power chord. I think the power chord has gotten a bad rap because it is looked at as being too easy, not very complex. But I say, more power to the power chord! if it sounds good, it is good. Some of the best songs are the easiest ones to play.