A Power Chord

What is the A Power Chord?

The A Power chord is a useful grip to learn because it shows you the core chord tones you'll reuse in riffs, progressions, and improvisation.

Notes and Arpeggios

Power chords use only the root and fifth — no 3rd means no major or minor quality, just raw harmonic strength. They stay clean under heavy distortion and move easily around the neck, making them the backbone of rock and metal rhythm playing. The chord tones are: A, E. It's built from degrees 1 and 5.

How to Use It

Power chords are the backbone of rock and metal rhythm playing. On bass, you usually outline this chord instead of strumming it: emphasize the root, 3rd, 5th, and 7th as the harmony requires, then use passing tones to connect back to the groove.

Build a one-bar bass line from the chord tones before adding scale passing tones. Use the highlights to spot where the same tone repeats across strings.