The 5 Chord (popularly known as Power Chords) is the fundamental chord in all styles of Hard Rock music including Metal, Punk and Grunge.  If you listen to an hour long Metal album, you're listening to 55 minutes of Power Chords.  We also hear them in Blues, Country and Folk.  Most people would agree that they sound hard, cold, angry. powerful and severe.  Some folks seem to think that the Power Chord was invented by Jim Hendrix in 1967 ... but the truth is, it is perhaps our oldest harmonic pattern going back thousands of years.  It just got a big-time face lift when humans discovered the electric guitar distortion circuit! 

These finger forms can all be moved up and down the fretboard to play in all 12 keys.  If you're unclear about how the color coding works on these charts, visit www.guitar-instruction-free-lessons-online.com/guitar-chords .  If you need more information about the music theory aspects of this and all other chords, check out Scotty's video home study program at http://www.absolutelyunderstandguitar.com/ .