Guitar Theory
What Are Power Chords?
A power chord is a two-note chord built from just the root and the 5th. It has no 3rd, which means it is neither major nor minor. That ambiguity is what makes it so powerful with distortion, and why it is the foundation of rock and metal rhythm guitar.
Root and 5th only
A standard major or minor chord has three notes: the root, the 3rd, and the 5th. The 3rd is what determines whether a chord is major or minor. A power chord removes the 3rd entirely. What remains is just the root and the perfect 5th, seven semitones above the root.
A major chord: 3 notes
A5 power chord: 2 notes
The notation for a power chord is the root note followed by 5, so A5, E5, G5. You will see this in chord charts across every genre of rock and metal.
Why the missing 3rd matters with distortion
When you apply distortion or overdrive to a full major or minor chord, the 3rd creates dissonance through harmonic interaction. The compressed, harmonically dense signal of a distorted amp turns the 3rd into a muddy, clashing sound. This gets worse the lower the chord is on the neck.
Remove the 3rd and the problem disappears. Root and 5th are the most consonant interval in music. They ring clear and focused through any amount of gain. That is why nearly every distorted rhythm part in rock history is built from power chords. It is not a shortcut. It is the correct choice for the sonic context.
How to play a power chord
In standard tuning, the most common power chord shape uses two fingers on adjacent strings. For E5 at the open position: index finger on the A string at fret 2, ring finger on the D string at fret 2. That is it. The open low E string is the root.
A5 power chord - 5th fret
Root (A) on the low E string, 5th (E) on the A string, octave root (A) on the D string.
Most players add the octave root on the next string up to fatten the sound. That gives you root, 5th, and root an octave higher. It is still called a power chord because the 3rd is still absent.
Power chords in Drop D
Drop D tuning lowers the low E string to D. The payoff is that you can play a power chord on the bottom three strings with a single finger. Bar across the lowest three strings at any fret and you have root, 5th, and octave root. This makes rapid power chord movement much faster and is why Drop D dominates hard rock and metal.
Bands that built their sound on Drop D power chords include Soundgarden, Foo Fighters, Pantera, and Tool. The physical ease of single-finger power chord transitions enabled faster and more aggressive riffing styles that would be harder to execute in standard tuning.
Power chords and diatonic harmony
Because power chords have no 3rd, they are harmonically neutral. An A5 works whether the key is A major or A minor. This gives rhythm guitarists flexibility. You can play the same set of power chords over a major or minor backing track without committing to either tonality.
This also means power chords work anywhere in a chord progression regardless of whether that position would normally require a major, minor, or diminished chord. The lack of a 3rd means there is no wrong choice.
Map power chord roots on the fretboard
Load any scale in the Scale Mapper to see where every root note falls. Each root is a valid power chord position.
Open Scale Mapper →