Modal (Power) Chords

Modal or Power chords are a great alternative to majors and minors. They only use two notes - the root and the 5th - duplicated twice on the fretboard. Example of modal chord using G again:

Above are the three notes for a major chord. Just taking G and D, missing out the third and repeating the notes twice - GDGD makes a modal chord. Because the third is missing, modal chords can't clash with either a major or minor so you can play them in place of either. They're usually easy to play and sound good accompanying other instruments. Left is a list of modal power chords using the same shape up the freboard.

OK, there's an advantage in the same shape being used up the fretboard, but the disadvantage is that you have to play high up the fretboard....... You can play inversions of the power chords to stay lower down. Right is a list of alternatives:

In practice, you can play a mix of 5ths and major chords if you want to stay in the same area of the fretboard. Typically, one plays the chords opposite (left) so if this is your common chord set for the 'majors' you now know that they're a real mixture!