How do you play power chords?

[Subterranean Homesick Walrus]

With these, I mean the "three note" ones, so A5 that will hit A on 5th fret 6th string, E on 7th fret 5th string and A on 7th fret 5th string.

How do you play these? Is there a "right way"? Do you just put the fingers in their respective order, or do you barre the lower two with your ring finger like me?

I am interested if doing that is actually good. On some harder stuff, I actually grip my guitar harder and bend the string, vertically, which results in missed notes. If I do the mini barre, it feels kinda sloppy but everything is heard (sometimes even the notes that should not be there - get carried away a lot while banging).

Should the "sloppy" thing ever be used by anyone? Is it just a bad habit and I should just pratice more, and slower?

[Remco32]

Rocksmith wants you to use 3 fingers for this, so you can easily make a different cord out of it.
I personally use 2 fingers, and I use my ring finger to bar the 2 strings like you.

[SiegeFrog]

Originally posted by Chevap666:

With these, I mean the "three note" ones, so A5 that will hit A on 5th fret 6th string, E on 7th fret 5th string and A on 7th fret 5th string.

How do you play these? Is there a "right way"? Do you just put the fingers in their respective order, or do you barre the lower two with your ring finger like me?

I am interested if doing that is actually good. On some harder stuff, I actually grip my guitar harder and bend the string, vertically, which results in missed notes. If I do the mini barre, it feels kinda sloppy but everything is heard (sometimes even the notes that should not be there - get carried away a lot while banging).

I'm a beginner, but I learned it as three fingers. Index on the root (in your example A on the 6th string), ring on the 5th string 2 frets up, and pinky on the 4th string same fret. The trick is to lay your index finger on the side lightly so that it frets the note on the 6th string but mutes the other 5 strings. The 4th and 5th strings will be unaffected since they're fretted above that, but you don't want the open treble strings ringing out. That sounds bad, and RS won't correct you. There is a power chord lesson, but I don't remember if they talk about the string muting or not.

If the root note is on the 5th string, you use the same shape just up one string. However, now the index finger has three jobs. First, it has to fret the root note on the 5th string. Second, it still has to mute the unwanted treble strings. Third, the tip has to touch the 6th string to mute that one as well. Then, you don't have to be as accurate strumming the 5th, 4th, and 3rd strings.

That's the theory anyway, I'm not always successful at all this in practice. Also, check out the power chords lesson and the Castle Chordead guitarcade game. Both are great practice at power chords on both the 6th and 5th strings.

[NoobAtIt]

Here's how I do it:
2 notes power chord, let's say A5: index finger on the 6th string, 5th fret, ring finger on the 5th string 7th fret.
Add the third note? Then my pinky is on 4th string 7th fret.

If the chord's root note is on the 5th string, I hold the 6th string with my middle finger. That way, it doesn't make sound if I accidentally pick that string as well. So middle finger mutes the 6th string.

Power chords normally have two notes, the third one is to "strenghten" the chord, as far as I know.

[caldaar]

Practice it both ways... it opens up options.

[mikedavies]

In the long term you have to practice both ways, so far better to start out that way. As begineers we tend to think of a tune as a series of notes or chords. As we progress we see things as sequences and so our choices of how we form a chord tend to be dictated from what we have come from and more importantly what we are leading into. So some times it is better to corm a 'claw' like shape and move that around as a unit simply moving just one finger. This is often the case of moving between major and minor barre chord shapes. At other times we need to move fast around the neck and throwing down a one finger barre chord will do the trick.

What I think is important is not getting obsesed with perfection as a result of being driven by scoring points. The truth is walk away from Rocksmith especially on up tempo songs and often you can get away with less than perfect chord shapes. I can sense I might have a finger out of place and the answer is dont put the emphasis on that string put the focus elsewhere and move on in the song. The truth is people have been doing that on stage for as long as I have been around which is quite a few years.

I would say the most impotant thing is the sound and 'flow' is so critical as opposed to a stecato type approach where on difficult chords you are always behind the beat as you try to get them right. And in a way at the lower levels Rocksmith doesn't support that it punishes the first chord in a change because that is the one it puts in. But it may be the case in a strumming pattern of say 4 you hit the second , third and fourth as you catch up with your fingers. So it might be usefull to change the difficulty level in Riff Repeater to put more content into the song and focus on getting a flow through it. Our brains have the habbit of sorting things out for us if we give them the space to do so subconciously.

So my answer in a way is at times practice faster with more content you might get to the point you are seeking quicker that way. The key is to have fun and not focus too hard on things which might not be perfect.

[Funk]

There are no rules on how to play them, but I almost always use three fingers to play those as I find it more acurate, you can mute the other strings you dont want to play with your index and you know your position will remain the same by changing chords without playing an extra note (well I am not explaining very well but I find the 3 fingers position way easier to play).

That said, I do sometimes use 2 fingers depending on the progression of the songs or what I want to do after/while doing the power chords, especially on upper frets or while jaming on classic rock/blues progression. Just practice and you will find the way that suits you better. ^^

[Subterranean Homesick Walrus]

Well yes, I understand that faster songs require faster chords so I'd use that barre (something like Stuck on a wire out on a fence or You really got me).

It's just that I don't like how RS2014 won't mind if you just bang all of your strings and if you hit the needed ones, you've passed. That kinda shucks.
Guess my problem is I bend them all the time. If it's some rock'n'roll, I tend to really rock with it :)
Thanks for your responses.