Guitar Power Chords

Play electric guitar? Then you need to know all about power chords. Power chords are easy guitar chords to play and sound great with lots of distortion. Power chords are played in all types of rock music because they sound great on a overdriven guitar, whereas other chords can sound messy.

Power chords use just two notes, the root and 5th of the scale, the root note is marked by the square box.

There is no such thing as a minor power chord or a major power chord. Power chords use only the root and 5th from the major scale, so they're frequently labelled 5th chords e.g.

G5 has these notes in: G, D

You can also play this chord with three notes, doubling the root note an octave higher.

These are easy rock guitar chords to play as you can move them anywhere on the guitar's neck:

• 1st Fret = F Power Chord
• 2st Fret = F#/Gb Power Chord
• 3rd Fret = G Power Chord
• 4th Fret = G#/Ab Power Chord
• 5th Fret = A Power Chord
• 6th Fret = A#/Bb Power Chord
• 7th Fret = B Power Chord
• 8th Fret = C Power Chord
• 9th Fret = C#/Db Power Chord
• 10th Fret = D Power Chord
• 11th Fret = D#/Eb Power Chord
• 12th Fret = E Power Chord

 You can play the same fingering with the root note on the A string, here the two note version of the power chord, with the root note on the 3rd fret giving us a C Power Chord:

Here's the three note version of the power chord, with the root note on the 5th string giving us a D Power Chord:

Again, you can play this chord on any position on the guitar neck:

• 1st Fret = A#/Bb Power Chord 
• 2st Fret = B Power Chord 
• 3rd Fret = C Power Chord 
• 4th Fret = C#/Db Power Chord 
• 5th Fret = D Power Chord 
• 6th Fret = D#/Eb Power Chord
• 7th Fret = E Power Chord
• 8th Fret = F Power Chord
• 9th Fret = F#/Gb Power Chord
• 10th Fret = G Power Chord
• 11th Fret = G#/Ab Power Chord
• 12th Fret = A Power Chord

Power chords are usually played on the bottom, thicker strings of the guitar as this gives a much fuller sound. That said, you can play power chords on the higher strings and this can be a really useful of making up guitar riffs by mixing up power chords that are played on different strings.

The two note power chord on the D and G strings of the guitar uses the same fingering, here with the root on the 3rd fret giving us an F power chord:

When playing the 3 note power chord we need to adjust the fingering slightly to compensate for the way the guitar is tuned. Here we have a G Power Chord with the root on the 5th fret of the D string.

As with the other inversions, these power chords can be played on any position on the guitar:

• 1st Fret = D#/Eb Power Chord 
• 2st Fret = E Power Chord 
• 3rd Fret = F Power Chord 
• 4th Fret = F#/Gb Power Chord 
• 5th Fret = G Power Chord 
• 6th Fret = G#/Ab Power Chord
• 7th Fret = A Power Chord
• 8th Fret = A#/Bb Power Chord
• 9th Fret = B Power Chord
• 10th Fret = C Power Chord
• 11th Fret = C#/Db Power Chord
• 12th Fret = D Power Chord

 Try mixing up these chords and check here for advanced guitar power chords.

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Play electric guitar? Then you need to know all about power chords. Power chords are easy guitar chords to play and sound great with lots of distortion. Power chords are played in all types of rock music because they sound great on a overdriven guitar, whereas other chords can sound messy.

Power chords use just two notes, the root and 5th of the scale, the root note is marked by the square box.

There is no such thing as a minor power chord or a major power chord. Power chords use only the root and 5th from the major scale, so they're frequently labelled 5th chords e.g.

G5 has these notes in: G, D

You can also play this chord with three notes, doubling the root note an octave higher.

These are easy rock guitar chords to play as you can move them anywhere on the guitar's neck:

• 1st Fret = F Power Chord
• 2st Fret = F#/Gb Power Chord
• 3rd Fret = G Power Chord
• 4th Fret = G#/Ab Power Chord
• 5th Fret = A Power Chord
• 6th Fret = A#/Bb Power Chord
• 7th Fret = B Power Chord
• 8th Fret = C Power Chord
• 9th Fret = C#/Db Power Chord
• 10th Fret = D Power Chord
• 11th Fret = D#/Eb Power Chord
• 12th Fret = E Power Chord

 You can play the same fingering with the root note on the A string, here the two note version of the power chord, with the root note on the 3rd fret giving us a C Power Chord:

Here's the three note version of the power chord, with the root note on the 5th string giving us a D Power Chord:

Again, you can play this chord on any position on the guitar neck:

• 1st Fret = A#/Bb Power Chord 
• 2st Fret = B Power Chord 
• 3rd Fret = C Power Chord 
• 4th Fret = C#/Db Power Chord 
• 5th Fret = D Power Chord 
• 6th Fret = D#/Eb Power Chord
• 7th Fret = E Power Chord
• 8th Fret = F Power Chord
• 9th Fret = F#/Gb Power Chord
• 10th Fret = G Power Chord
• 11th Fret = G#/Ab Power Chord
• 12th Fret = A Power Chord

Power chords are usually played on the bottom, thicker strings of the guitar as this gives a much fuller sound. That said, you can play power chords on the higher strings and this can be a really useful of making up guitar riffs by mixing up power chords that are played on different strings.

The two note power chord on the D and G strings of the guitar uses the same fingering, here with the root on the 3rd fret giving us an F power chord:

When playing the 3 note power chord we need to adjust the fingering slightly to compensate for the way the guitar is tuned. Here we have a G Power Chord with the root on the 5th fret of the D string.

As with the other inversions, these power chords can be played on any position on the guitar:

• 1st Fret = D#/Eb Power Chord 
• 2st Fret = E Power Chord 
• 3rd Fret = F Power Chord 
• 4th Fret = F#/Gb Power Chord 
• 5th Fret = G Power Chord 
• 6th Fret = G#/Ab Power Chord
• 7th Fret = A Power Chord
• 8th Fret = A#/Bb Power Chord
• 9th Fret = B Power Chord
• 10th Fret = C Power Chord
• 11th Fret = C#/Db Power Chord
• 12th Fret = D Power Chord

 Try mixing up these chords and check here for advanced guitar power chords.

Dm Guitar Chord | Beginners Guitar Chords

Today's Guitar Chord of the day is D minor, an easy chord to play and another essential beginners chord shape. The Dm guitar chord is played with just 3 fingers, be careful not to let the bottom E string ring.
Here's the fingering for the Dminor chord, put your 1st finger on the 1st fret of the E string, your 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the G string and your 3rd finger on the 2rd fret of the B string:

The Dminor chord uses these notes - D, F, A (that's why you don't want to play the open bottom E string as the note E is note in this chord)
Minor chords use these notes from the scale 1, b3, 5 and generally have a 'sad' sound compared to major chords.

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Today's Guitar Chord of the day is D minor, an easy chord to play and another essential beginners chord shape. The Dm guitar chord is played with just 3 fingers, be careful not to let the bottom E string ring.
Here's the fingering for the Dminor chord, put your 1st finger on the 1st fret of the E string, your 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the G string and your 3rd finger on the 2rd fret of the B string:

The Dminor chord uses these notes - D, F, A (that's why you don't want to play the open bottom E string as the note E is note in this chord)
Minor chords use these notes from the scale 1, b3, 5 and generally have a 'sad' sound compared to major chords.

Bb Guitar Chord | B flat guitar chord

Today's guitar chord of the day is Bb. There are two different ways to play this in first position, the first inversion is played like this:

Keep your fingertips close to the frets for the clearest sound, put your 1st finger on the 1st fret of the E string, 2nd finger on the 3rd fret of the D string, 3rd finger on the 3rd fret of the G string and your 4th finger on the 3rd fret of the B string:

The B flat guitar chord uses these notes: Bb, D and F
This chord can also be played using a barre across the 1st fret. Lay your first finger just behind the 1st fret like this:
The Bb barre chord is fingered like this:

It take a little practice to play barre chords if you're used to playing open guitar chords, but this has the big advantage of being moveable, you can keep the same guitar chord shape and move to different frets to play different major chords:

• 1st fret Bb chord
• 2nd fret B chord
• 3rd fret C chord
• 4th fret C# chord
• 5th fret D chord
• 6th fret D#/Eb chord
• 7th fret E chord
• 8th fret F chord
• 9th fret F#/Gb chord
• 10th fret G chord
• 11th fret G#/Ab chord
• 12th fret A chord

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Today's guitar chord of the day is Bb. There are two different ways to play this in first position, the first inversion is played like this:

Keep your fingertips close to the frets for the clearest sound, put your 1st finger on the 1st fret of the E string, 2nd finger on the 3rd fret of the D string, 3rd finger on the 3rd fret of the G string and your 4th finger on the 3rd fret of the B string:

The B flat guitar chord uses these notes: Bb, D and F
This chord can also be played using a barre across the 1st fret. Lay your first finger just behind the 1st fret like this:
The Bb barre chord is fingered like this:

It take a little practice to play barre chords if you're used to playing open guitar chords, but this has the big advantage of being moveable, you can keep the same guitar chord shape and move to different frets to play different major chords:

• 1st fret Bb chord
• 2nd fret B chord
• 3rd fret C chord
• 4th fret C# chord
• 5th fret D chord
• 6th fret D#/Eb chord
• 7th fret E chord
• 8th fret F chord
• 9th fret F#/Gb chord
• 10th fret G chord
• 11th fret G#/Ab chord
• 12th fret A chord

F Guitar Chord | Beginners Guitar Chords

Today's guitar chord of the day, is another guitar chord for beginners. After mastering the open chords, the next tricky chord to learn is Fmajor. This is a really useful chord because it's used lots in very common keys.

The F Major guitar takes a little bit of practice and is often the first chord that beginners learn to play using a barre. This is where one finger is laid flat to hold down more than one string. In this case the first finger is laid flat over the top E and B strings at the first fret. Using the edge of your finger rather than placing your finger flat helps the notes to sound clearly.
Once you have your first finger holding down the E and B strings at the 1st fret, place your 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the G string, and your 3rd finger on the 3rd fret of the D string. The A and bottom E strings are not played in this chord inversion. Here's the fingering for this guitar chord shape:

If you've got the hang of this, you can also play the F major chord as a barre chord. Here the first finger is lying across all of the strings on the 1st fret. It takes a little more practice to play, but it does mean you can play all 6 strings.

And here's the fingering for F Barre Chord, it's still written as F major (or just plain F) but we're using a barre with our finger to play it:

Practice changing between the Fmajor chord and the C major chord and try working through all of the beginner guitar chords listed here.

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Today's guitar chord of the day, is another guitar chord for beginners. After mastering the open chords, the next tricky chord to learn is Fmajor. This is a really useful chord because it's used lots in very common keys.

The F Major guitar takes a little bit of practice and is often the first chord that beginners learn to play using a barre. This is where one finger is laid flat to hold down more than one string. In this case the first finger is laid flat over the top E and B strings at the first fret. Using the edge of your finger rather than placing your finger flat helps the notes to sound clearly.
Once you have your first finger holding down the E and B strings at the 1st fret, place your 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the G string, and your 3rd finger on the 3rd fret of the D string. The A and bottom E strings are not played in this chord inversion. Here's the fingering for this guitar chord shape:

If you've got the hang of this, you can also play the F major chord as a barre chord. Here the first finger is lying across all of the strings on the 1st fret. It takes a little more practice to play, but it does mean you can play all 6 strings.

And here's the fingering for F Barre Chord, it's still written as F major (or just plain F) but we're using a barre with our finger to play it:

Practice changing between the Fmajor chord and the C major chord and try working through all of the beginner guitar chords listed here.

D Augmented | Ting Tings Great DJ Guitar Chord

This D augmented chord is used on the intro of the Ting Ting's, Great DJ.


The D Augmented chord, can also be written as D+ and here is played together with a regular open D major chord. The augmented adds dissonance and tension.

Here's the fingering for the Daugmented chord:

D augmented can also be written as D major #5, D+
D augmented uses these notes D, F#, A#

Augmented chords are constructed from the root, 3 and #5. Augmented chords aren't used anywhere near as often as regular major and minor chords, however if you're looking to add a little tension to your music try throwing in an augmented guitar chord next time you're writing a song.

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This D augmented chord is used on the intro of the Ting Ting's, Great DJ.


The D Augmented chord, can also be written as D+ and here is played together with a regular open D major chord. The augmented adds dissonance and tension.

Here's the fingering for the Daugmented chord:

D augmented can also be written as D major #5, D+
D augmented uses these notes D, F#, A#

Augmented chords are constructed from the root, 3 and #5. Augmented chords aren't used anywhere near as often as regular major and minor chords, however if you're looking to add a little tension to your music try throwing in an augmented guitar chord next time you're writing a song.

C Guitar Chord | Beginners Guitar Chords

The C Guitar Chord is one of the essential guitar chords for beginners to learn to play. The C guitar chord is made up of the notes C, E and G.

To play this guitar place your 1st finger on the 1st fret of the B string, your 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the D string and your 3rd finger on the 2rd fret of the A string. Hold these notes down with your fingertips and listen carefully to each string to make sure that each note of the guitar chord is sounding clearly.

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The C Guitar Chord is one of the essential guitar chords for beginners to learn to play. The C guitar chord is made up of the notes C, E and G.

To play this guitar place your 1st finger on the 1st fret of the B string, your 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the D string and your 3rd finger on the 2rd fret of the A string. Hold these notes down with your fingertips and listen carefully to each string to make sure that each note of the guitar chord is sounding clearly.

Allan Holdsworth Chords | Part Two

Continuing our series of posts looking at Allan Holdsworth's Guitar Chords, today we look at another inversion than can be taken through a chord scale.

Rather than using standard chord voicings, Allan Holdsworth views chords as being a member of a "family", the family name being the name of the scale from which that chord is derived. Any grouping of notes from that family can be substituted for the standard chord voicings, depending, of course on your own taste and the context in which they are used. For example, if the harmony calls for an Cmaj7, rather than playing a standard voicing, various combinations of notes all drawn from the Cmajor scale can be used.

Here an inversion is taken through the C major scale. As any of these chords can be used over any of the diatonic C major chords no chord names have been given. Although this inversion is taken directly through a scale, bear in mind that Allan usually uses a more complex approach moving between different inversions.

Moving each of the chord to the next scale note gives us the same inversion starting on the 3rd fret.
Moving each scale note up gives us this inversion

Moving each scale note up gives us this inversion that's an easier stretch than the last chord.
Moving each note up again takes us to our original chord inversion starting on the 8th fret.

And again at the 10th.
Finally a different inversion is created by moving each scale note up again.
Moving the chord notes up to the next scale note would give us the same inversion we started with 12 frets higher.

Try taking other inversions 'for a walk' through a scale and substitute these for regular inversions that you might have used. Listen carefully to interesting melodies and check back soon for another guitar chord of the day.

If you liked like this post you might also be interested in the Frank Gambale Magic Chord posts.

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Continuing our series of posts looking at Allan Holdsworth's Guitar Chords, today we look at another inversion than can be taken through a chord scale.

Rather than using standard chord voicings, Allan Holdsworth views chords as being a member of a "family", the family name being the name of the scale from which that chord is derived. Any grouping of notes from that family can be substituted for the standard chord voicings, depending, of course on your own taste and the context in which they are used. For example, if the harmony calls for an Cmaj7, rather than playing a standard voicing, various combinations of notes all drawn from the Cmajor scale can be used.

Here an inversion is taken through the C major scale. As any of these chords can be used over any of the diatonic C major chords no chord names have been given. Although this inversion is taken directly through a scale, bear in mind that Allan usually uses a more complex approach moving between different inversions.

Moving each of the chord to the next scale note gives us the same inversion starting on the 3rd fret.
Moving each scale note up gives us this inversion

Moving each scale note up gives us this inversion that's an easier stretch than the last chord.
Moving each note up again takes us to our original chord inversion starting on the 8th fret.

And again at the 10th.
Finally a different inversion is created by moving each scale note up again.
Moving the chord notes up to the next scale note would give us the same inversion we started with 12 frets higher.

Try taking other inversions 'for a walk' through a scale and substitute these for regular inversions that you might have used. Listen carefully to interesting melodies and check back soon for another guitar chord of the day.

If you liked like this post you might also be interested in the Frank Gambale Magic Chord posts.