A Guitar Power Chords Chart For Finding Fun Easy Guitar Chords

The guitar power chords chart is a guide to finding power 5th chords. A guitar power chords chart should be studied after the basic guitar chord chart (A list of open chords which have open strings.) and before studying general barre (Chords which do not have open strings.) chords. What are power 5th chords? How do we construct them from our knowledge of music theory?

Looking Under the Hood at 5th Chords

Guitar power 5th chords are made up of the 1st and 5th notes of the major scale. This is difficult to explain so let's look at an example. Let's make a C 5 (C power chord) chord.

Constructing a Power Chord

First, we must look at the C major scale because it has the same letter name as the C 5 chord. The C major scale contains the C, D, E, F, G, and A notes. We must give each note a number. The C note is the 1st note and the D note is the second note and so on. The 1st and 5th notes are C and G. Therefore, C and G make up a C 5 chord. How can we find guitar power chords with the guitar fretboard chart?

Finding Power Chords With The Guitar Fretboard Chart

We look on the guitar fretboard chart for a note with the same letter name as the guitar power chord. For example, let's say we are looking for an E b (flat) 5 chord. We would look for an E note because we should only memorize the natural notes on the fretboard chart. We then can assume notes above (closer to the guitar tuning pegs) generally are flatted notes and the ones below (closer to the sound hole) are sharped (The notes with a # sign.) notes. However, remember that C and F do not have a flats and B and E don't have sharps. Now, what do we do next?

Chord Shapes and Power Chords

We look for power chord shapes with root notes on the D string since we find an E note (The E b note is above it.) on the D string. What are root notes? What are power chord shapes? Let's look at an example.

Finding Our Fifth Chord

If a power chord shape has it's root note on the D string first fret then we can make a E b 5 chord. On the other hand, if a power chord shape has it's root note on the D string second fret then we can make a E 5 chord. Likewise, if a power chord shape has it's root note on the 3rd fret then we can make a F 5 chord and so on. So we can see already that we have found our E b 5 guitar chord. How can we find 5th chord progressions using the guitar fretboard chart and music theory?

Finding Power Chord Progressions

First we must understand that 5th chord progressions come from the 1st, 4th and 5th of a major scale. Let's look at an example. We will try to make a C guitar power chord progression.

The key of C (The C power chord progression) has three chords. The I (first) chord is C 5 since C is the 1st note in the C major scale. Likewise, the IV (fourth) chord is F 5 since F is the 4th note in the scale. Finally, G 5 is the V (fifth) chord because G is the fifth note in the scale. Now we know which notes to look for in the guitar fretboard chart.

We look for C, F, and G root notes on the chart. Next, we find chord shapes which connect with those notes. It's important to find root notes which are near each other to make a good guitar chord progression. For example, we can find a C root note on the low E string 8th fret and we can find F root note on the A string 8th fret. Finally, we can find a G note on the A string 10th fret. We simply find power chord shapes which connect to those notes and we have a guitar power chord progression. Why should we learn power chords? Where did these chords come from?

The Origin of Power Chords

Rock musicians (Some say one musician.) wanted a strong punchy chord. Therefore they dropped the 3rd note in a major chord. A major chord is made up of the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes of the major scale. A basic guitar chord chart is full of major chords. Power fifth chords soon became a common feature of rock and punk music. All guitar players should study the guitar power chords chart because they are fun, easy to play and create a well rounded player. Rock and punk guitarists should especially learn them because as I said before it's a common feature of today and yesterday's punk and rock scene.

Conclusion

So let's quit talking about guitar power chords and start jamming!