How to Harness the Incendiary Force of Rock’s Favorite Chord
Sometime in the early stages of learning guitar, you find out an invaluable secret. Be it learned from a teacher, online, a friend, or a family member, you are shown the power chord! Whether it’s rock, metal, punk, or modern country, you will find these magical shapes in any song with loud guitars. And you can play a bunch of chords with the same fingering!
Origins of the Guitar Icon
A power chord is actually not a chord at all. Chords are generally built from triads. Three different notes played at the same time or in a successive pattern. Chords can be built with larger frameworks than three different notes. But not really smaller.
If you look at the label of a power chord, you will see it called something like this: “E5.” Upon further examination of some sheet music, you may find that every power chord has a letter name followed by the number five. Hmmmm…
The Power of Two
The reason these “chords” are called “5” is because they are made up of a musical interval. As we already know, an interval is a measurement between two points. That can be a time interval. For example being, it takes 2 and ½ hours to fly from New Jersey to Florida. It can be measurements of anything. I’m sitting 3ft away from my friend. Musical intervals are measurements by how many notes in a scale that a note is away from another.
If you play your E5 power chord. Let’s say the Open E string (6 string) and the B note (second fret on the A or 5th string), you are playing a perfect fifth! Think about it.
E F G A B!
1 2 3 4 5
E is five notes away from B. Let’s try another one! Let’s try G5. That is played at the 3rd fret on the E (6th) string and the note on the 5th fret A (5th) sting. The notes being played are G and D. Here we go…
G A B C D. BOOM! We have something here! Every power chord is made up of this interval.
1 2 3 4 5
Que the Monks!
This interval is called a perfect 5th in music theory. Let’s step back hundreds of years. When music theory and common practice were being derived in western Europe. Music was largely commissioned by royalty and the church. Like art and science, music was also believed to be either appropriate or blasphemy.
There were certain intervals that were believed safe for people to hear. And others that were considered sounds of evil. There is even a “devil’s interval.” Conversely, the previously mentioned “perfect” interval. The word perfect is derived from the Latin word “perfectus.” Which means to finish or bring to completion.
The perfect fifth was considered to be a stable enough interval to build music on. As was the octave. Which is the perfect eight. The octave, or perfect 8th, is playing all the way around the musical alphabet. Until it starts all over again but in a higher register. The 5th and 8th became favorites within the church for hymns. If you have ever heard the Gregorian chant, you are hearing monks sing in perfect 5ths and 8ths octaves!
Should I Play Power Chords with Two Fingers or Three Fingers?
You might have learned power chords fingerings that you to you use two or three fingers. How is that possible, you ask? Jason, you just got finished telling me about 2 note intervals! Let’s play a G5 power chord again. G on the 6th string 3rd fret, and D on the 5th string 5th fret. Play the chord using the index finger on G and ring finger on D. Now, if you add your pinky on the 4th string 5th fret, you are playing another G! It’s just a higher G than the one on the 6th string 3rd fret. That’s the octave. So, you have a G, D, and a higher G. Yes, you are holding down notes. But it’s only two DIFFERENT notes. An octave is just considered doubling up on what you already have. In this case, you are playing two Gs.
Ouch! How to Stop Power Chords From Hurting
A lot of beginner students express problems playing a power chord using their index and ring fingers. To play most power chords, you have to stretch a bit. Remember, G5 would have your index finger on the 3rd fret and your ring finger on the 5th. Your fingers need to spread out enough the avoid the 4th fret in between. This feels unnatural as most common movements we make with our hands do not require us to stretch our fingers out this way. The G5 chord might seem difficult right?
Not all Frets are Created Equal
Lay your guitar down on your lap for a second. If you take a look at the fingerboard, you might notice something that helps! What is it? As the frets get higher on the neck, they get smaller and smaller. So that means they are closer together. This means playing a power chord higher up on the neck requires less of a stretch than lower on the neck!
Time to Work on Two!
Let’s work on your Index and ring finger stretch! If put your index finger on the 10th fret on the 6th string and your ring finger on the 12th fret (double dot fret) on the 5th string. You are playing a D5 power chord now. D on the 10th fret 6th string, and A on the 12th fret 5th string.
This stretch is much more manageable when you are starting out. While holding down both these notes at the same time, play the 6th string to see if it sounds clear. Now do the same on the 5th string. Still always holding the chord down. Don’t pick your fingers up in between notes. If you do, you won’t be working on the stretch! If both notes sound good, play the two strings together at the same time. There is your power chord!
Now move your fingers down one fret each (index finger on the 9th fret 6th string, and ringer finger on the 11th fret 5th string) and do the exercise again. Continue on to 7th and 10th frets, and 7th and 9th frets. By the time you get to the 7th and 9th frets, you will feel a little wider stretch than what you felt on the 10th and 12th frets. Each day you should continue down the neck as you can manage the wider stretches. After a week or so, you may make it down to the 1st and 3rd frets. Which would be the widest stretch you would need to make for any power chord.
Patience!
Take your time doing this. Think of a flexible dancer like a ballerina. They weren’t able to do those stretches with their legs right away. It takes time. If you practice it every day, it could take a week, or two to get really comfortable doing this. But if you are consistent and try to make small improvements (couple frets a day) you’ll do great!
-JD