The Magic and Ease of Power Chords

By Shawn Leonhardt for Guitar Tricks and 30 Day Singer

Power chords are a staple of modern rock, pop, metal, and many other genres where guitar is prominent. There are specific musical reasons for this, but they also shine because they are so simple to play. Once you understand the basics of these guitar chords, you will have a better chance of knowing when to use them. Let’s take a look at some ins and outs of the magical power chord.

What Is The Power Chord?

Music is all about intervals and how notes sound relative to one another; the emotions and vibes that occur are the same for similar note distances. If you play two frets next to each other, it is dissonant as that is a minor interval and famous for sounding like the theme from Jaws when played faster. There are major, minor, tritone, and perfect intervals, and the last are what sound the best!

A major scale can be denoted with the scale degrees of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 and 8 being the next octave and repeating the process, so in the key of C that’s C D E F G A B C. The most stable two notes are the 1 and 8 or the C-C octave; after that, the 1 and 5 are the next consonant perfect notes. Human ears love the perfect fifth so much that it is likely the most used interval across all cultures on the planet. When we play the 1-5 together or often the 1-5-8, we get a power chord.

A real chord is made up of degrees 1, 3, and 5 from major/minor guitar scales. The 3 is either normal or flattened to give the chord its major or minor flavor. A power chord lacks that 3^rd note and so it only has the consonant perfect sound. Modern guitars use a lot of gain and signal distortion that bounces notes all over the place; a 1, 3, and 5 note mixture played too heavily will sound off. However, if you just play the 1, 5, and 8, you get a powerful underlying bed of sound to riff and play licks over!

There are other times when we play just two note combinations, but they are not exactly power chords. In bluegrass and folk, it is common to hit two notes of an interval in rhythmic playing. There are other examples in rock music where the 1 and 4 are played, and while it also has a strong vibe, it is not as powerful as the 1-5. Using a double stop or partially played chord is not going to provide the same strong consonant sound of the power chord.

Power Chords Are the Easiest to Play

Power chords grew in popularity with the advent of the electric guitar because of its middle or even lower-class associations. People who played the rock and blues were seen as unrefined and not musically talented because of their lack of higher education. This even carried into later rock bands well into modern times where the playing approach is lazy or uncaring like punk, grunge, and power pop. But clearly critics of the past underestimated how much the masses love a good power chord. This will be one of the best online guitar lessons you’ll see discussing power chords. Let’s break it down.

If you are a new guitarist, the power chord is your entry-level ticket into playing like a rockstar. Play C5 (X355XX), F5 (133XXX), and G5 (355XXX) before moving back to C5, that right there are thousands of punk and rock songs. The hardest part is muting the strings that you aren’t playing. And as long as we stay above the B string, we can move that shape around for different power chords. Power chords are played in the bass section of an instrument, as treble notes do not give the same overtones and consonance that a deep bass does.

Another common shape is the A5 (X022XX) and the D5 (XX02XX); notice there it only has the 1 and 5. Sometimes inversion shapes are used like a 5, 1, 5, but you have to be careful with inversions in the bass, or the chord will sound like the 5 instead of the 1. (Sometimes, in really dark and gloomy lowered tunings, it’s hard to tell though). Try out different mixes of the root, fifth, and octave and see how the overall tones and vibe changes. Don’t forget to reference a guitar chord chart when learning new chords, like this one.

Muting is done with the palm or, more importantly, just striking only the necessary strings with the pick. This will be hard at first, but with practice you will be able to almost do it with your eyes closed. It’s not that big of a worry, though, as lots of songs that use power chords have subpar guitar players who didn’t mute the best. This isn’t a judgment, just a testament to how easy power chords are to use in pop. Don’t forget, distortion hides mistakes.

When Are Power Chords Appropriate?

While it may seem like the power chord is the ultimate cheat, it is limited in application without something to define the sound. One reason a lot of heavy metal and even pop sounds are so similar is that the underlying harmonic structure is the same as most other songs in that genre. If you are not flavoring the chords in the vocals, other guitars, or another instrument, it will lack a distinct feel.

Often, in metal, musicians use the power chords as a chug, gallop, or song rhythm driver. The lead guitar or vocalist then provides the rest of the notes that provide context. Punk usually has way less complicated music and mainly relies on the distortion and power of the fifth. While rock and pop mix it in more with other chords and techniques when they want a strong underlying sound, there is also usually less distortion associated with their power chord use.

The easiest way to get to know when a power chord sounds best is to play as many songs as possible. Stick to 90s tunes and modern rock especially to get the right idea for when they are useful. Of course, some older songs use it too, like the famous Kinks hit “You Really Got Me” or the famous windmill guitar playing on “My Generation.” There are other genres that use the root and fifth but rock music seems to be where it is mostly taken advantage of. There are plenty of free guitar lessons online to dive deeper into power chords with.

The magic and ease of the power chord make it perfect for a beginning guitar player and, even later, as you advance, there will be plenty of songs that use these chords. Another way to boost your knowledge of the power chord is to write your own music with them. Copy a famous chord progression and only use power chords, keep it driving and rhythmic and maybe you can join the many other tunes that use this famous interval of the root note and fifth.

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