Guitar: Intervals and Power Chords: An Open Learning Guide

Intervals are named with reference to scales. For example, the interval from the root of the major scale to the second note of the major scale is called a "major second"; the interval from the root to the third note of that scale is a "major third", and so on. A "minor third" is the interval from the root to the third of a minor scale, and is a semitone (one fret) less than a major third.

If the two notes are played at the same time, an interval is called a harmonic interval. If they are played one after the other, it is called a melodic interval. (Only melodic intervals can be played on a single string.)

Power chords are simple chords consisting of root, fifth, and possibly octave. An advantage to understanding power chords is their shape can be used to quickly determine the location of the perfect fifth and the octave. This improves one's overall understanding of the location of notes on the fingerboard by relation to one another and builds the groundwork for understanding scales. Power chords are a staple of heavy distortion guitar styles, where the distortion creates harmonics that give a rich sound despite the bare-bones simplicity of the chord.

Perfect fifths (e.g., C-G) and their inversion, perfect fourths (e.g., G-C), are the most consonant interval on the guitar (and in all of music for that matter), not counting unison and octaves.

It is more difficult to play the octave for a root note on the D string, because the B string is tuned differently than the other strings, and you will need to stretch further to reach the octave. Power chords are most commonly played on the thicker strings, and many songs exclusively use perfect fifth power chords.

When you play a power chord in the open position (or any power chord), you have to be careful to mute the other strings so they do not ring out. In this case, if you also played the G string, you would be playing a full chord, not a power chord. Use your extra fingers to lightly touch the other strings, use your fretting fingers to smother the unnecessary strings, or just avoid hitting the unnecessary strings with your impact hand.

Power chords, and really any chord types, are useful because they can be moved anywhere on the neck, as long as the relationship between the notes is the same. For example, in the E5, the thickest string plays an E, the next string plays a B (which is the fifth note of any E scale), and the next string plays another E, but an octave above it.

If you take the same chord pattern, and move it up the neck to make a different power chord. For example, take the two fretted notes, then use your first finger and fret the thick E string two frets behind the others. For example, if you were fretting the E string at the third fret, you would be playing a G5 which looks like this:

There are several different fingerings you can use to play a power chord, but it is best to choose one that lets you easily move the power chord up and down the neck.

Here are three most common fingerings for a power chord, in this case, a G5. In the second and third fingering, the two strings are barred at the fifth fret. The numbers indicate the number of finger to use. Finger #1 is the index finger, #2 the middle finger, #3 the ring finger, and finger #4 is the little finger.

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Text adapted from Guitar/Intervals and Power Chords by Wikibooks contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0. Paragraphs have been selected and abridged, and formatting adjusted. This adapted text is shared under the same licence. Contributor history.