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Free Games
Power Chords Step 2
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Example 12 is a total major triad. The voicing is fifth, root, third. Now is the perfect time to get to know the suspended fourth, because all you have to do is add your pinky finger. All of the major and minor chords can be turned into a suspended fourths by taking the third (or flatted third), and replacing it with the fourth degree of the major scale. Going back to the C major chord , the third, E, would be replaced with a F note, the fourth degree of a C major scale.
When sus 4 chord's are used in rock, metal, they are usually put in between two major chord's of the exact same letter name. (For example: C major, C sus 4, C major.) Example 12 can be turned into a sus 4 chord by putting your fourth finger in front of your second finger, like in Example 13. Now lift the fourth finger back up and you are back to that major triad. This move is used in rock and metal rhythms quiet a lot.
Example 4 can be changed into a sus 4 chord by just a simple modification, as shown in Example 14. (Notice that the first string is not played, but instead we add the the suspended fourth note.) Just like before any major or minor chord can be turned into a sus 4 chord, but Examples 13 and 14 are more common in rock and metal. Sus 4 chord's are not used quiet as much as power chords.
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Examples 17 and 18 have almost the same sound. Both of them are voiced root, fifth.
You can always add open strings to some of the moveable chords.
Open strings can really add a full, spacious quality. Example 8, played as an A
power chord at the second fret, is often played with the fifth string (A) open.
Just try it out and you can hear for yourself what sounds good to you.
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Examples 19 through 21 are played at the second fret. You can't move those shapes. The open string is the root and the fretted note is the fifth for all three. What we got here is an E power chord followed by an A shape and D shape. The open string in each shape is represented by an "0" above the string.
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Examples 23 through 25 are what we call octaves( two notes of the same letter name). Not even the fifth degree is present in these. For each of them, the open string is the lower octave and the fretted note , usually held with the third finger, is one octave higher. The fretted note is to be held down at the seventh fret in all three.