Power chord finger placement?

empirex

Just curious as to how everyone here plays a power chord? ie. Index & Ring; or Index, Ring & Pinky fingers?

I've always found it more efficient (speed, ease) to only use only the Index and Ring fingers, and have done so from the get go so there's no turing back now, but have noticed a few guys using the three-finger method.

AlanRatcliffe

Mostly three fingers, but I'll use anywhere from two to six notes. Sometimes you want the tight contained sound of two notes, other times you want it to sound fuller.

MikeM

Maybe I'm a weirdo, I use index middel and pinky. However it varies cause I find normal power chords boring.

AlanRatcliffe

In fact, you should try find as many ways possible to play any chords you use, and practice all the ones you like. It especially comes in handy when you play with another guitarist and want to play something different from them.

Try these full-sounding 5th chords:

Note: Play the G note on the 6th string with your thumb and the notes on the 1st and 2nd string with your index finger - so you can get the open G string.

singemonkey

Alan's spot on. It's actually a bit of a strange question because it all depends on what you're using your power chord for. I don't think that, in the end, it's about one person plays like this, another like that. It's really more about, "What do I want to do with my power chord right now."

If I'm playing an inverted power chord (smoke on the water style) I might use just one finger to bar off the 5th and the octave underneath it if the 5th is on either the low E or the A string. If I'm doing blues comping, it's traditional to use two fingers - also because you want the other fingers available to hit the other notes as they come up (Chuck Berry style). If I'm trying to play "Am I demon" by Danzig, I'll use a three finger power chord.

empirex

Wow, thanks guys, something to think about from a simple question. I was a little vague in my initial post though - I meant when you are playing a three-string power chord like below:

In this case he uses the Index, Ring & Pinky, while if I were playing the same chord I would just use the Index & Ring fingers.

AlanRatcliffe

Using three fingers gives you many more options. You can sharpen or flatten one of the notes (a la AC/DC) and it makes changing to a 5th with the root on the D or G string easy.

empirex

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: Using three fingers gives you many more options. You can sharpen or flatten one of the notes (a la AC/DC) and it makes changing to a 5th with the root on the D or G string easy.

Hmm, so would you reckon it's worth the effort to retrain the fingers? I've always done it this way as I have a bit of a spastic pinky ?

DonovanB

empirex wrote: I have a bit of a spastic pinky ?

ah, the queer finger. Use it often and use it well. Not using it is like losing 20% of your guitar playing skill in one movement.

empirex

Donovan Banks wrote: ah, the queer finger. Use it often and use it well. Not using it is like losing 20% of your guitar playing skill in one movement.

Yeah I made a point of using it when starting out, but didn't use it within the power chord.
If you hold your hand out out with palm up, and curl your fingers towards you - and then pull your pinky towards you and then away, repeating, it doesn't have that smooth movement like the other fingers but more of a jerky movement. Though with practise you can reduce it quite a bit, and learn to control it..

Wizard

I've personally always had a bigger problem with my ring finger than my pinky ...