Hi there friends! Today we are gonna ROCK! The following lesson is all about power chords. Power chords are the quintessential rock and roll chords. They’ve been put to use by Elvis, The Beatles, Metallica, U2, Green Day, and just about every rock artist who’s cranked up their amp and wanted to get that beefy sound of a power chord.
What is a power chord? A power chord is a combination of a “root note” and a “fifth”. (If your not sure what those terms mean it’s okay you don’t need to know them to play the chords. We’ll cover music theory in a lesson to come. Stay tuned.) Their technical name and the way they’re written in music is a 5 chord. Example: E5 or G5 etc. They are neither major or minor which makes them very versatile and easy to use.
These two are played with your 1st and 3rd fingers. The root note is the open yellow circle and is played by the first finger. We also name the chord from the root. (Example: If your root is on the note G the chord is a G power chord (G5))
There are thousands of songs we can play using power chords. Try this one first. (click on the music below) Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”.
