Power Chords
A power chord is generally a two or three note chord that consists of the root note and the fifth note of a scale.
I don’t want to bog you down with too much theory but you will need to understand some basic fretboard theory.
In the following image are the notes to play an A Major Scale. The grey circle is the first note of the scale.
This is also called the root note.
The A Major scale is shown in TAB below.
E---------------------------------------------------------------- B---------------------------------------------------------------- G---------------------------------------------------------------- D-----------------4--6--7---------------------------------------- A--------4--5--7------------------------------------------------- E---5--7---------------------------------------------------------
Remember when I said that a power chord is the root note and the fifth not of a scale ?
Here is what an A power chord looks like in TAB.
E---------------------------------------------------------------- B---------------------------------------------------------------- G---------------------------------------------------------------- D---------------------------------------------------------------- A---7------------------------------------------------------------ E---5------------------------------------------------------------
Ahhh pure nirvana ! It’s very common to also add the 8th note of the major scale to the power chord.
In our example it is just another “A” not an octave higher than our root note.
E---------------------------------------------------------------- B---------------------------------------------------------------- G---------------------------------------------------------------- D---7------------------------------------------------------------ A---7------------------------------------------------------------ E---5------------------------------------------------------------
Here is what it looks like. You’ll notice that I am using my first and third fingers. My second is just tucked away in a natural position.
My third finger is actually pressing down on two string at once on the 7th fret. This is called barring the strings.
Hence this is called a bar (or barre) chord.
It’s ok if you don’t always strike the third note of the chord. It will still sound good.
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Do not forget to raise your fist in the air after striking the chord ! You are on your way to becoming a metal god.