Guitar technique
A power chord is a two- or three-note chord made of just the root and the perfect fifth (and sometimes the octave). It is the foundational chord shape of rock and metal rhythm guitar.
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What it is
Power chords contain neither the major third nor the minor third, which is what gives them their tonal ambiguity and their tolerance for distortion. With heavy distortion, regular major or minor chords sound muddy because of intermodulation between the third and other notes. Power chords stay clear at any gain level, which is why distorted rock and metal rhythm guitar uses them almost exclusively.
How to read it
Power chords are written either as a chord name with a '5' suffix (E5, A5, D5) or shown directly in tab as the root note and the fifth two frets and one string higher. Example: an E5 power chord at the 7th fret is 7th fret on the A string + 9th fret on the D string + (optionally) 9th fret on the G string.
See the full guide to reading guitar tab for the complete symbol reference, or browse the glossary for related terminology.
How audio2guitar detects it
Power chords have a characteristic spectral signature: strong root and fifth peaks with no detectable third. The chord recognition model distinguishes power chords (E5) from full major (E) and minor (Em) chords by analyzing the harmonic content above the fundamentals.
Where it shows up
No. The chord recognition labels each chord based on the actual notes detected. If only root and fifth are present, the chord is labeled as a power chord, not a major or minor.
Every power chords our pipeline detects gets marked in the tab automatically. First 3 songs free.