Guitar Chords: Power Chords
Power chords or fifth chords are made using the first, fifth and often the octave notes of a scale. A power chord can be moved up and down the neck of the guitar making it very versatile. Power chords do not have the 3rd note of the scale in the chord, making it neither major nor minor.
Power chords are frequently used in blues, rock and heavier sounding music genres that use more overdrive or distortion in their guitar tone. The diagrams below show power chord forms with the root note on the 6th, 5th, 4th, and 3rd strings.
Power Chords are sometimes shown with their root note along with the number 5 to identify them. The power chords below will show you how to play a progression using power chords on the 5th and 6th guitar strings.
More Guitar Chords