Guitar Power Chords - How To Sound Like A Superstar Guitar Fast
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by: Mac Wheeler
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What's the Deal with Power Chords? If you have ever heard any rock music, punk, heavy metal or any other form of music that features over driven, distorted guitar sounds, then you have definitely heard power chords in action, they have been the backbone of rock music for the last 50 years.
Interestingly enough, in musical terms, the power chord is not actually a chord, as the chord shape only consist of a dyad (pair of notes) instead of a triad (three notes). A power chord is made up of the root note and its 5th. Quite often these two notes will be fingered several times in one chord shape, although the simplest form of power chord can be played on two strings.
In recent years the term power chord has been adopted by other types of musician to indicate any chord which contains only two notes, repeated within the chord shape, although primarily the name power chord pertains to simple, distorted chords played by rock musicians.
So why are power chords so attractive?
Why do people (myself included) love to crank up their amplifier and bash out a thundering rhythm using nothing but guitar power chords? I think the answer to this has to be that they are simple to play, and leave the guitar player free to express rhythmic ideas through additional techniques such as left hand dampening, right hand dampening and effects units.
In modern guitar tablature, you will often see a chord named as a 5 chord, whenever you see something like G5 in a piece of tab, don't be scared, this is just the way a power chord has come to be interpreted as a notation formula, it represents the fact that the chord is constructed from the root G and it's 5th.
Playing Power Chords
Predominantly power chords are played on the bass strings, the E, A and D strings. More often than not the chord will be made using a partial barre, as this allows the musician to play several power chords in the same fret board position without actually moving the barre at all.
Certain simple chord progression, especially those found in the more simple forms of rock music such as punk, will require very little physical movement of the left hand up and down the fret board, allowing the rhythm guitar player to thrash out extremely fast and driving rhythms with the minimum of effort.
There are whole generations of musicians who did nothing more than teach themselves how to play Guitar Power Chords in their own bedrooms, before moving on to learn more complex chords and more intricate musical styles.
Learning to play guitar power chords is fun, simple and offers an immense amount of gratification for a minimum of effort. If you are the kind of new guitar player who wants to be able to play something recognizable within days of picking up a guitar for the first time, then spend a few hours learning to play guitar power chords and jamming along with your favorite rock songs.
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About the Author
Don't miss out on more about power chords and loads of extra free guitar tips at Guitar Power Chords
Mac Wheeler is a contributor to http://www.LearningAcousticGuitar.net where he provides great guitar playing secrets, articles, videos and reviews.
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