Applying Power Chords (Beginner)

Power Chords — or simply “5” chords (e.g., C5) — are great. We don’t care if it’s a major, minor, sus or whatever else, since we only play the root note and the fifth.

Power Chords are very useful, for example, when you’re new to a band and can’t quite decipher the chord symbols yet. You can just play the root note with the fifth, and it won’t be too noticeable. Of course, you shouldn’t only play power chords in a ballad, but this is about practice.

The power chord on the E and A strings looks like this:

Where the red dot marks the root note and p5 the perfect fifth.

Many people also play the octave in addition to the two notes, which is neither right nor wrong. It’s simply a note played twice and gives the whole thing a bit more “space”. But it doesn’t have to be if you don’t want to.

It is important that you only play the power chords on the E or A string, i.e. the root note starts on one of these two strings. After that, it simply becomes too thin for an accompaniment. Nevertheless, it can sometimes happen that you have to switch to the D string as a bass. Here you have to pay attention to the fact that the “B string” is in a different mood. So the octave (if you play it) must be adjusted accordingly.

The most important thing to remember are the first two bass strings, i.e. the E and A strings. This way you can quickly find a power chord.

So if you play a power chord from the lowest string (E) in the 3rd fret, it would be a power chord of G (or G5).

Let’s do an example:

It’s My Life:

https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/bon-jovi/its-my-life-chords-596069
(Click on “Transpose” 5x on “+”. The original key is Am and should therefore also start with Am).

Now you just have to adjust the rhythm more or less. So listen carefully and try to hear when exactly the guitar plays how. It doesn’t have to be exactly the same rhythm, but something that fits well.

Don’t Stop Me Now:

https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/queen/dont-stop-me-now-chords-519549
Exactly the same principle as in the first example, but a little more difficult and faster. Here I would click on “Simplify” in the tabs so that all slash chords (e.g. C/F) disappear. You could also just take the first one with slash chords.
So with C/F just play C.

Boulevard Of Broken Dreams:

https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/green-day/boulevard-of-broken-dreams-chords-146744
In the last example, we play a song that would require a capo.

What exactly does a capo mean?
Here we would have to put a capo in the first fret. That means everything would sound a semitone higher.

Now there are two possibilities:

- You put a capo in the first fret and try to remember when you see this fretboard that everything would now have to be one fret higher. So the point on the fretboard at the 3rd and 5th (7th, 9th and 12th) fret would then be the 2nd and 4th fret and you could no longer rely on it so well.
- You click on the “+” once at “Transpose” and play it without a capo. But here you would have to know the notes with “#” and “b”. Or with an “F#” you simply think of an F and go one fret higher.

Frequently asked questions:

- What are PowerChords?
- What are intervals?
- How do I hear intervals?