What is a Power Chord? It is a chord consisting of 2 notes. The two notes are the I and V degrees. People use power chords because they are neither major nor minor. This is because they don't have a third degree, and the third degree tells you whether a chord is major or minor. They are also used because they give the feel of raw power. So let's get started showing you power chords. Let's start by showing you the C Major Scale. The E Major Scale
Now all you have to do is comprise a chord of the I and V degrees. In this case those notes are E and B. Now all you have to do is find any combination of these two notes and it is a power chord. Let me show you a few examples. E Power Chords
These chords are called E5 chords. So any power chords is named by the root plus a 5 after it. Now here's an example of some G5 chords which consist of G and D G5 chords
Notice that the G5 chord in the middle above is comprised of the lowest 3 notes of the G major barre chord. So in other words the chords with this form have the same rules as the barre chords.
- They are moveable
- Their root (note that names the chord) is the lowest note.
The same holds true for the pattern given on the G5 chord that is on the far right in the chart above.