Power chords
Two notes, the root and the fifth, often with the root doubled an octave up. Neither major nor minor, the power chord sounds huge with distortion: it’s the backbone of rock riffs.
What it is
A power chord contains only the root and the fifth, often with the root repeated an octave up. Its formula is 1, 5. It’s written with a 5: E5 for the E power chord.
With no third, it’s neither major nor minor. So it can stand in for E major or E minor alike, and that’s what makes it so handy in rock.
The sound
With a clean tone, it sounds a bit empty. With distortion, it becomes huge and tight, where a full chord with its third would sound muddy. It’s the sound of almost every rock, punk and metal riff.
One shape for the whole neck
The shape never changes: index on the root, ring finger and pinky two frets up, on the next two strings. Slide it along the low E string or the A string, and you can play all twelve power chords. The only exceptions are E5 and A5: their root is the open string, and your index and middle fingers are enough for the other two notes.
Only the strings in the shape should ring: the others are muted by your fretting-hand fingers lightly touching them.
All 12 power chords
Click a diagram to hear it, or the name to open its full page (every position, tab).