Power Chords

What is a power chord? Musically, it's a chord that contains a root note and a fifth note. But for now, don't worry about what that means.

Basically it's a chord that contains 2 notes that is used in countless rock songs. This is because it is a very "heavy" sounding chord. Contrary to what you probably think, you can actually make a heavier sound on the guitar with 2 string chords instead of chords that use 3, 4, 5 or 6 strings.

Power chords are easy to learn because the same power chord shape can be applied anywhere on the neck, as long as they are started on the 6th or 5th strings.

The tablature below shows different examples of power chords. Notice how they all start on either the 6th or 5th strings? Also notice how the note combinations are always 2 frets apart?

What you should practice for this week is the Figure 5 tablature below. For this, you will be using "downstrokes." A downstroke is exactly what it sounds like- you stroke your pick in a downward motion on the two notes at the same time.

The red numbers indicate which fingers you should use for this chord:

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The Secret To Learning Guitar As Fast As Possible

The secret to learning the guitar as fast as possible: consistency. Don't confuse consistency with thinking this means you need all the free time in the world for guitar lessons. Practising the material I teach you for just 10 minutes per day will be far more beneficial to you than practising once a month for 6 hours in one sitting.

About Us

Contact us at stupideasyguitar [at] gmail.com. The goal of this site is to teach people how to play the guitar as quickly and easily as possible. From what I've found, guitar teachers and instructors often don't teach their students things that will help them learn the instrument as fast as possible. Why? Well, a lot of guitar teachers are classically trained so they will teach their students things like how to read music which can be very time consuming, frustrating and boring for beginner guitarists. While there is nothing wrong with learning how to read music, this should never be taught at the beginning of the guitar learning process because its gets in the way of teaching students things that are much easier to learn so they can get playing recognizable riffs, chords and songs on the guitar as soon as possible. The more students aren't learning the simple and easy things first, the greater the chance there is of them quitting and giving up on the guitar altogether.