Introduction

Power chords are common in heavy music, as well as many other musical styles. Power Chords seem to be very simple but really are great. Green Day and Blink 182 are very good artists to try if you want to mater power chords. Power chords can be fun and easy to play. Thus, they are the best form of chords to use on the electric.

Power

Power chords are easy to play just about anywhere on the neck, but lend very little harmonic texture to a song. Power chords are often performed within a single octave, as this results in the closest matching of overtones. Power chords sound great with lots of distortion. Power chords are not meant for the acoustic guitar because they wont sound good.

Root

You got to remember that all power chords with their roots on the sixth and fifth string requires you to place your index finger (your pointing finger) on the root string. The root is simply the lowest note in the chord. There are charts showing power chords that you can download for free on the net but it is best to just keep in mind “root, fifth, octave” and do your own discovery of how to play power chords.

Playing

Try playing a full power chord, then play the root. You are supposed to adapt what you've learnt here into playing other songs other than Green Day. But who cares what you think of them as — they can enhance your playing.