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Guitar Power Chords Chart

Power chords appear in several different forms (or "shapes") on the fretboard. The guitar power chords chart in this lesson will provide you with many of these variations, but ultimately it's up to you to explore the fretboard in your own way (based on your knowledge of chords and scales). This is just for quick reference. Print this page out if you like.

As we learned in the introductory guitar power chords lesson, the typical power chord consists of the root (1) and 5th (5). There are several positions in which you can play this diad, some of which were shown in the above lesson and covered more comprehensively below.

Movable guitar power chords chart

The basic power chord diad, consisting of the root and 5th can be played in the following movable positions. Movable means the chords maintain their form/fingering on the fretboard no matter which fret you position them at.

E string root ^ This fuller power chord shape requires you to mute the G string. I use my 2nd finger as if I were playing a standard major barre chord, but instead of fretting the G string I just rest over it. This mutes the string.	A string root ^ Simply barre your index finger across the low E and A strings. The low E provides a lower 5th in the power chords shape. Adds a bit of depth to A string root power chords. TIP You can also just use the 2 string barre and leave out the D and G strings for more of a "lead" fingering.
D string root ^ An extension of the basic root-5th shape. The A string provides a lower 5th, the B string provides the root octave (higher root). TIP Leave out the G and B strings for more of a "lead" fingering.	G string root
B string root

Open guitar power chords chart

As the name suggests, these power chord shapes make use of open strings, giving you a fuller voicing. Great for those big sounding rock and metal riffs.

Open E power chords	Open A power chords
Open D power chord	Open G power chord

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