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Basic Chords Step 1
The coming up power chords are moveable. You can move them from fret to fret, with every new position the power chord gets a new name. The note with a circle around is the root note, the note that manifests the name of the chord. If you play example 1 at the seventh fret it is a B major chord because the note on the sixth string on the seventh fret is a B note. If you play the same chord at the third fret it turns into a G major chord, just like the note on the sixth string third fret is a G note. All of these moveable chords work this way.
If you get more used learning the names of the different chords as they are moved around the neck should aid you learning all of these notes on the fretboard. I really recommend that you take the time to learn the neck. The easies way is learning the notes on each string starting at the first fret then gradually work your way up.
All of those chords are displayed using standard chord charts. The vertical lines represent the guitar's six
strings, and the horizontal lines represent the frets.
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Example 1 is normally the first barre chord that a guitar player learns. It seems to be a standard among most teachers and instruction books that this chord is the "Master" of all other chords. With any type of "barre" chord the first finger forms a bar to hold down all six strings. This chord is voiced root, fifth, root, third, fifth, root. Lift up your second finger, which holds down the chord's third degree, and your first finger will now hold down the flatted third. The chord now becomes minor, which brings us to example 2.
The first two chords are normally known as hard rock chords, but they are used more often in the smaller form of Ex 3. With the third, second, and first strings not played, the result is a power chord voiced root, fifth, root. Many players hold down the full barre chord, but actually only play the sixth, fifth, and fourth strings only. The root note on the fourth string is one octave higher than the root note on the sixth string. This means that the note on the fourth string is really the same but is higher in the pitch. One complete major scale resides between those two notes. If two major scales fit in the middle of them, then the higher pitch note would be two octaves higher.
Sometimes Ex 3 is used as a two note chord, consisting of the sixth and fifth strings only. Not playing the higher octave note won't change the sound of the chord that much, it will just eliminate some treble. After learning Ex 1, most guitar players go on to learn the second barre chord form, Ex 4. This major chord is voiced root, fifth, root, third, fifth. Ex 5, is the minor version of this chord, it has the same voicing, only it contains the flatted third.
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You should now be able to play Examples 4 and 5, but these chords are more common to hard rock, metal, in the smaller form of Example 6. Just like Example 3, this power chord is voiced root, fifth, root. Also just like Example 3, the root note on the third string is one octave higher than the root note on the fifth string. Example 6 may also be played as a two note chord, with the higher octave root note not played.
You can use Examples 11 for more of a treble effect, instead of using Examples 10, but this is all up to you. Two note chords located on the higher strings, like this one, can also be put into guitar solos. When you use them this way, they are called "double-stops".