How to play the A Power chord on guitar
A5 is the movable power chord shape in its most common home position. Because nothing is open except the root, it mutes cleanly under palm damping — the reason it is a staple of tight, chugging rhythm parts.
A Power Chord is a power chord: just the root (A) and its fifth — A, E. It has no third, which is why it sounds neither major nor minor and sits under distortion so well.
Finger it one string at a time
- low E string: don't play it.
- A string: play it open.
- D string: fret 2 with your index finger.
- G string: fret 2 with your middle finger.
- B string: don't play it.
- high E string: don't play it.
Just like E5 but shifted down one string. Keep the 6th string muted.
What makes this shape awkward
- 3 strings stay silent, so your strumming hand has to start on the right string. Aim the pick rather than sweeping all six.
Where you'll use it
A5 appears in 2 of the play-along progressions in RiffRoute. These are the actual sequences it sits in:
- Crush Riff (Heavy Metal, 135 BPM) —
E5 → G5 → A5 → E5 → D5 → A5 - Neon Highway (Synthwave Rock, 128 BPM) —
A5 → F → C → G5
Chords it's usually played with
In the progressions that use A5, these turn up alongside it most often — learning them together is more useful than learning A5 alone.
Hear it and check yourself
Reading a diagram only gets you so far — the part that decides whether A5 sounds right is whether every string rings cleanly. RiffRoute plays the chord back, listens while you strum it, and tells you which string is buzzing.