Play electric guitar? Then you need to know all about power chords. Power chords are easy guitar chords to play and sound great with lots of distortion. Power chords are played in all types of rock music because they sound great on a overdriven guitar, whereas other chords can sound messy.
Power chords use just two notes, the root and 5th of the scale, the root note is marked by the square box.
There is no such thing as a
minor power chord or a
major power chord. Power chords use only the root and 5th from the major scale, so they're frequently labelled 5th chords e.g.
G5 has these notes in: G, D
You can also play this chord with three notes, doubling the root note an octave higher.
These are easy rock guitar chords to play as you can move them anywhere on the guitar's neck:
- 1st Fret = F Power Chord
- 2st Fret = F#/Gb Power Chord
- 3rd Fret = G Power Chord
- 4th Fret = G#/Ab Power Chord
- 5th Fret = A Power Chord
- 6th Fret = A#/Bb Power Chord
- 7th Fret = B Power Chord
- 8th Fret = C Power Chord
- 9th Fret = C#/Db Power Chord
- 10th Fret = D Power Chord
- 11th Fret = D#/Eb Power Chord
- 12th Fret = E Power Chord
You can play the same fingering with the root note on the A string, here the two note version of the power chord, with the root note on the 3rd fret giving us a C Power Chord:
Here's the three note version of the power chord, with the root note on the 5th string giving us a D Power Chord:
Again, you can play this chord on any position on the guitar neck:
- 1st Fret = A#/Bb Power Chord
- 2st Fret = B Power Chord
- 3rd Fret = C Power Chord
- 4th Fret = C#/Db Power Chord
- 5th Fret = D Power Chord
- 6th Fret = D#/Eb Power Chord
- 7th Fret = E Power Chord
- 8th Fret = F Power Chord
- 9th Fret = F#/Gb Power Chord
- 10th Fret = G Power Chord
- 11th Fret = G#/Ab Power Chord
- 12th Fret = A Power Chord
Power chords are usually played on the bottom, thicker strings of the guitar as this gives a much fuller sound. That said, you can play power chords on the higher strings and this can be a really useful of making up guitar riffs by mixing up power chords that are played on different strings.
The two note power chord on the D and G strings of the guitar uses the same fingering, here with the root on the 3rd fret giving us an F power chord:
When playing the 3 note power chord we need to adjust the fingering slightly to compensate for the way the guitar is tuned. Here we have a G Power Chord with the root on the 5th fret of the D string.
As with the other inversions, these power chords can be played on any position on the guitar:
- 1st Fret = D#/Eb Power Chord
- 2st Fret = E Power Chord
- 3rd Fret = F Power Chord
- 4th Fret = F#/Gb Power Chord
- 5th Fret = G Power Chord
- 6th Fret = G#/Ab Power Chord
- 7th Fret = A Power Chord
- 8th Fret = A#/Bb Power Chord
- 9th Fret = B Power Chord
- 10th Fret = C Power Chord
- 11th Fret = C#/Db Power Chord
- 12th Fret = D Power Chord
Try mixing up these chords and check here for advanced guitar power chords.
