Guitar Lessons that work!

A Visual Learning Experience, Lead Guitar Made Easy

Includes Over 150 online guitar lessons - Become a member today!

 

Welcome to Guitar Secrets
Guitar lessons that work!

Root 5 bar chords and power chords.

Guitar chords determined by the note on the A string.

[ Major and minor chords   ] [  Open chords ] [ Root 5 bar chords ]
[ Guitar chords ] [ Bar chords ][ Root 6 bar chords ] [ Chord inversions ] [ Chord Formula's ]

In this guitar lesson, I would like to explain the Root 5 bar chords. The root 5 barre chord is determined by the note on the A string. The root 5 bar chord is a movable chord and enables you to play all of the major chords and each chord is determined by the note of each fret along the A string. These bar chords can be played as power chords as well. The power chord, in essence, is really not a chord since it consists of only 2 notes. A chord must have at least 3 notes. For example, the A minor chord consists of the A, C and E notes. The A major chord consists of the A, C# and E notes. The guitar chord that consists of 3 notes is called a triad.

The power chord does not use the major or minor 3rd and uses only two notes of the triad. For example, the A minor chord consists of the A, C and E notes and the A power chord uses only the A and E notes of the chord. It is neither a minor or major chord because it does not have a 3rd. You can use the minor scale or major scale over the power chord since it lacks the 3rd of the chord.

This video explains the major and minor, root 5 and root 6 bar chords.

The first two images below, show the A major chord in the open position. The third image shows the A chord converted into the root 5 bar chord. If your index finger is positioned on the 3rd fret, it would be the C major chord. This is because the note on the A string, 3rd fret is the C note. If you slid this fingering to the 5th fret, it would be the D chord. If you slid it to the 7th fret, it would be the E chord and so on all along the A string.

This is a very important bar chord and one of the most popular played. The Low E string is not being played in my illustration, notice how my thumb lays over the Low E string to mute it so it won't sound. However, in heavy rock you could use the Low E string in the open position and play these chords at the same time.

The guitar tablature has been iluustrated below. The number 1 on the image means you use your 1 finger to play the A chord. The 0 means that the A string is left open and played with the guitar chord.

These are very important guitar chords and should be learned. Play this chord in every position along the fretboard. Remember the chord is determined by the note on the A string, 1 finger.

This chord can easily be converted to the A5 chord or root 5 chord. The A5, G5, C5 and so on are used in rock music. Lead guitar is very easy to play over the root 5 type chords. You can write some heavy music using these chords in your songs.

Look at the image below and notice how the C chord has now been converted to the C5 chord. This was done by removing the E note. Now you are playing just the C and G notes. Look at the illustration below. This could be considered as the C5 power chord. Popular guitar chords used in Rock.

You play the C and G notes only. You can move this chord in different places to play other chords too. Notice it is a C5 chord because of the C note 3rd fret ,A string. If you moved this same fingering to the D note, 5th fret, A string it would be the D5 chord. Look below.

This is now the D5 chord. Notice the D note 5th fret, A string. Move these chords around the fretboard and put some rhythms together. You can now use the Am or A5, C major or C5, D5, and G5 chords in the Am pentatonic leads. You can also use E5 and Em, since this chord is in the key of C major. 

The D5 power chord is illustrated below.

Here's a rhythm using the A5, C5, D5 and G5. Practice this until you can play it by memory and then come up with a few chords of your own. Notice that I'm using the open E string with the power chords to beef up the rhythm a little. You can also use the open E string to help with timing.

Good Luck,

Guitar Secrets