So once you have got those 6th string root Power Chords down we can get into the notes with a 5th string root. The principle is exactly the same but the notes are different of course and there is an additional technique needed..

Video Lesson

 

Now with a fifth string root...

Guitar Chord C5  

 

Use only your 1st, 3rd an 4th fingers as shown, and start by putting your 1st finger in the 3rd fret of the 5th string (the note C). Then put down your 3rd and 4th fingers, if this is a bit of stretch don't worry, you will soon limber up! Try to keep them together, the 3rd finger kinda on top of the 4th as shown below.

 

Now you have to mute the 6th string!

Power Chord mute

Now notice that the 6th string must not be played.

Power Chord with the root on the 5th string will sound very bad indeed if you forget to mute this string. So how do you do that?

Well we use then of our first finger, the very tip to press on the side of the the 6th string. No hard enough to make the note sound, but hard enough to stop the note ringing out. See the photo and try and copy my hand position.

Some people use the middle finger to help mute the 6th string. It's ok to do this AS WELL but you still have to mute with the first finger too!

 

Take a listen

It should sound like this when you play all the strings, from fattest to thinnest (6th to 1st). Remembering that the 6th string is now muted (that is the first note you will hear.

Powerchord5 by justinguitar

 

And Then There Were Two Root Notes

Guitar Neck Notes

So if you look closely now at the neck diagram below you can see that there are now two ways of playing every power chord! One with the 6th string root and one with the 5th string root!

Two Ways To Play

So make sure that you understand that every power chord can be played in two places in the neck. You will have to learn how to figure out which one you should use when. Use a little logic, and listen. Sometimes it is better to play them all on one string anyway, because the sound will stay consistent. Use your ears and your head!

Some cool tunes to check out...

A great way to work on these is just to play some songs! So check out the list of songs and work on them. It is a lot more fun to play songs than work on exercises, but if there is a particular change that you find hard, then pull it out and work on that one change over and over until you make it more comfortable!

 

So time to check out some songs to use these in: BC-187 • Easy Songs For Stage 8

 

HELP!!!!

HELP

If you need to ask a question about this lesson - there is a topic set up specifically to help you with this lesson. To help you find it easily you can click the following link and it will take you right the topic. You'll be able to see questions that other people had and ask your own questions! Hopefully one of the very helpful members of our community will be there to help you soon, I do go there and answer stuff too - but there are just too many questions for me to answer alone!

So click this link to get help with this lesson!

 

Master Rock Power Chords

Master Rock Power Chords

Master Rock Power Chords is a collection of 14 play along tracks to help you put your Power Chords into practice. It starts super easy with just open Power Chords and very simple rhythms and then gets into using 6th string root, then Palm Mutes, Stop Mutes and then 5th string root chords and combining them all with more interesting rhythm patterns (but nothing too complex - this is aimed at beginner players!).

You will also be reading chord charts which is a very useful skill.

Lots of fun :)

Details here or click the image

 


Justinguitar Beginner's Products

Beginners Course DVD
Justinguitar Beginners Songbook
Beginners Course Book
Practical Music Theory

I have four great beginners products that will help you make the most of this course. Most popular is The Justinguitar Beginners Songbook which contains 100 songs arranged by difficulty that perfectly match up with each level of the course. Many people told me they like books more than web pages so we've made The Justinguitar Beginners Course Book (comes with 2 x CD's too!) and many people found being online to watch the videos a pain so we offer The Justinguitar Beginners Course DVD which also means you can watch the vids in much better quality. Together they complete the whole online course and are perfect when there is no internet connection!! Also very popular is Practical Music Theory for those that like to know what they are doing and why!! It covers very basic theory in an easy to digest way and puts it onto the guitar! They are all available in Bundle Packs too where you can save a bunch of money!!

Buying products and making donations help keep the site free and growing! :)