Speaking of rock guitar, Carlos Santana is a master of Classic Rock.

Throwing these chords into your songs will make your playing sound stereotypically rock, especially on electric guitar. I hope you enjoy exploring the power of power chords (pun intended). If you add ring finger on the 2nd string, third fret, you can play this too.Play only the 3rd and 4th strings (5th is optional).Pointer finger on the 3rd string, second fret.Play only the 4th and 5th strings (6th is optional).Pointer finger on the 4th string, second fret.Pointer finger on the 5th string, second fret.

Practice these until they’re comfortable under your fingers, and see if it’s something you want to continue learning about. Here are a few of the easier ones to get you started. A Few Simple Power Chords To PracticeĪs with all chords, some power chords are easier to play than others. By removing all but the root and the fifth, the distortion and effects still sounded good, opening up new worlds of sound. The notes ended up clashing with one another. As rock bands added more effects and distortion to their sound, they noticed the chords sounded bad using some effects. This sounds less glamorous, but it’s true. They sidestep the “happy” or “sad” feelings given by the standard major and minor chords. By removing the middle notes, the chords also gain some mystery. Reducing notes gives more power to the ones still there. Rock guitarists use power chords for different reasons. Adding other notes makes the chords more complex-sounding, but the power chord is simple and powerful. It’s called a power chord because the open fifth sound allows for more projection and a solid sound. Even though a G power chord uses only G and D, it will double those notes, so you still use more than two strings. Power chords will most often use the fifth and double some of the notes. Technically speaking, this would make them dyads instead of true chords, but it doesn’t sound as exciting, does it? In this case, a G power chord would be built on G and D only. Power chords remove the thirds, or middle notes, and limit it to the root and fifth above. For example, a G major chord uses the notes: G, B, and D.

Most of the time, chords are built from three or more notes. Power chords are also called fifth chords. Today, I want to talk a little about these chords and how it can change your playing. But the powerful sound you can put out with them sounds anything but easy. Mastering these chords isn’t that hard, in fact, they’re simpler than many other chords in some ways. So many reasons, but one of the main ones is around a unique type of chord called the power chord. As a teacher to many students over the past 10+ years, I know how intertwined rock is with the guitar. This makes sense to me, rock music really shows off what the guitar is capable of. When most people think of serious guitar music, they think of Rock music. But still, some techniques have been born from specific genres and taken the world by storm. After all, much of it came from the blues. Guitar playing has some major similarities across all genres.

Gpower chord