A Power Chord (A5)

1Composition: what it contains

A – E

Symbol

A5

Also written

A5, A(no3)

Formula

1 5

2Appearance: diagrams and sound

On the guitar

On the ukulele

On the piano

On the staff

On bass and as an arpeggio

3Indications: what it is used for

The heart of rock, punk, metal and grunge guitar. Because it has no third, it works over both major and minor progressions and stays clear under heavy distortion, which turns thirds into muddy noise. It is used for riffs, palm-muted rhythm parts and doubling bass lines. In other styles it appears as an open fifth on piano or strings for a medieval or epic sound, and as a bass-plus-fifth pattern in left-hand piano accompaniment.

4Dosage: how to practise it

On guitar, learn the two-finger shape rooted on the sixth and fifth strings, then the three-finger shape including the octave. Practise moving it along one string with a metronome at 80 BPM in eighth notes, then add palm muting and increase the tempo to 140–180 BPM for punk downstrokes. Practise switching between the two string sets without looking. On piano, play root and fifth in the left hand under a right-hand melody. Ten minutes daily for beginners.

5Warnings and common mistakes

It is not a major chord, even though it is often written as just a letter by mistake: if the song needs a third, play the full triad. Do not let other strings ring; mute them with the side of the fretting finger. With heavy distortion, add only octaves, not thirds. On drop tunings, the shape changes to a one-finger barre. The symbol '5' refers to the fifth interval above the root, not to a fifth chord in a progression.

6Interactions with chords, scales and keys

Scales to play over A5

• A Major Scale
• A Natural Minor Scale
• A Harmonic Minor Scale
• A Melodic Minor Scale
• A Dorian Mode
• A Phrygian Mode
• A Lydian Mode
• A Mixolydian Mode
• A Major Pentatonic Scale
• A Minor Pentatonic Scale
• A Blues Scale
• A Major Blues Scale
• A Half-Whole Diminished Scale
• A Phrygian Dominant Scale
• A Hungarian Minor Scale
• A Lydian Dominant Scale
• A Double Harmonic Major Scale
• A Bebop Dominant Scale

7Other presentations available

The same chord from every note

C5 C♯5 D5 E♭5 E5 F5 F♯5 G5 A♭5 B♭5 B5

Other chords on A

A Am Adim Aaug Asus2 Asus4 A6 Am6 A7 Amaj7 Am7 Am7♭5 Adim7 Am(maj7) A7sus4 Aadd9 Am(add9) A6/9 A9 Amaj9 Am9 A11 Am11 A13 A7♭9 A7♯9 A7♯5 A7♭5