How To Play Power Chords Tutorial

A power chord is a two-note chord, with no major or minor quality to it. This is because power chords are just made up of the root and the fifth of the chord. The third of the chord, the part that usually gives the chord a major or minor quality, is left out of power chords. Don’t worry too much about the theory behind this though. What we want to do first is concentrate on getting familiar with the power chord shapes.

Let’s start with the first power chord shape. Place your index finger on the third fret of the low E string. When you’re playing power chords, the note you’re playing with your index finger will always be the root note of the chord. The root note is how we get the name for that specific power chord, so in this case, since our index finger is playing G note, this is a G power chord.

Now it’s pretty easy to follow the pattern to finish this power chord shape no matter where you are. Just go up two frets and over one string, putting your third finger down on that string, which here is the fifth fret of the A string. That finishes the shape of your power chord, and you can play it by strumming just the fifth and sixth strings.

The great thing about power chords is you can move them all around the fretboard. Get familiar with this shape, and practice moving it around the fretboard on the sixth string.

We’re going to make our next power chord shape by building off of the first one and just adding an extra note to it. It’s still just a two-note chord, but we’re going to double up on the root note.

Start with your G power chord again, and then add one higher octave of your root G note by placing your pinky finger on the fifth fret of the D string. If you pick each string, you’ll hear that we still have just a G note and a D note, but the third string now adds the extra G note in the higher octave.

When you play each of the power chords so far, you’ll notice that this three-string version is fuller sounding that the two strings version. This will give you another flavor you can use for your power chords. Work on getting this shape down so your fingers can go right to it. Fingers right behind the frets, and be able to move the chord anywhere along the fretboard.

The third power chord shape we’re going to learn is the same shape as the last power chord, but rather than playing the two high notes with two fingers, we’re going to take our pinky off the string. Instead, we’ll make a bar with our third finger so it actually plays both of those notes.

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The first electric guitarist of note to use a seven-string guitar was jazz guitarist George Van Eps, who was a pioneer of this instrument.[citation needed] Solid body seven-strings were popularized in the 1980s and 1990s in part due to the release of the Ibanez Universe guitar,[citation needed] endorsed by Steve Vai. Other artists go a step further, by using an eight-string guitar with two extra low strings. Although the most common seven-string has a low B string, Roger McGuinn (of The Byrds and Rickenbacker) uses an octave G string paired with the regular G string as on a 12-string guitar, allowing him to incorporate chiming 12-string elements in standard six-string playing. In 1982 Uli Jon Roth developed the "Sky Guitar," with a vastly extended number of frets, which was the first guitar to venture into the upper registers of the violin. Roth's seven-string and 33-fret "Mighty Wing" guitar features a six-octave range.