Power Chord Technique Lesson

Most styles of guitar music will have an occasional power chord, but they’re probably heard most often in rock. Power chords boil down to basically the two chord shapes seen below. The root of the chord is the lowest note, either the 6^th or 5^th string.

These power chords will challenge your fret hand wrist strength, which helps to prepare you to play barre chords. To really master them, try playing as many chord progressions as you can with them. You can play almost any song using only power chords. Just replace all of the chords to power chords of the same name. It works most of the time, and it’s that simple.

Note that when you’re first starting out with power chords, you might find the full chord form difficult. For both power chord shapes, you can omit the highest note and play an even easier version of the same chord. Since that high note is an octave from the root, the chord will not be changed.

Example conversion:

Diatonic (4-Part) Chords

Power Chord Substitutes

A few chord progressions to try:

Muting

The notes not in the chord (marked by the letter X) must not be played, or the chord will be wrong Normally these notes are muted by the fretting hand.

Tips

• If you’re having trouble playing power chords, try bringing your guitar to a repair shop and asking for the “lowest-action” set-up possible.
• It’s also a good idea to use the lightest possible strings at first. For acoustic guitar, ask the guitar shop for some “.01’s”. If you play electric, ask for “.00’s” or even “.00’s”.
• If you’re still having trouble, consider using either a finger-training tool, available at many music shops and online, or a grip training tool such as Captains of Crush, available from body-building websites.

Recommended Products

• Captains of Crush Hand Trainer^[?] is a great hand training tool.
• Gripmaster Hand Trainer^[?] a more commonplace hand training tool.
• Elixir Nanoweb Acoustic Coated Strings (Light)^[?] light strings for acoustic guitar.
• Elixir Nanoweb Electric Coated Strings (Light)^[?] light strings for electric guitar.

Key Tasks

• Practice the power chords daily until your wrist strength improves to the point where you can play them cleanly.
• Once the chords are clean, work on your endurance. Strum chord progressions of power chords continuously for several minutes at a time until your hands get tired.
• Try improvising by inventing your own power chord progressions. Just shift the patterns around, making it up as you go along. This is how rock music was invented!