What exactly IS a power chord?

Question

I'm still sort of confused...If you could explain it to me in the simplest way as possible, I'd be so grateful, as I just started playing...well, today.

Answer 1

Keeping it simple:

A power chord is a chord that is played by striking (generally) two strings at once.

ie: If you placed your index finger on the first fret the sixth string, and your ring finger on the third fret of the fifth string and struck both those strings, you'd have just played a power chord.

Answer 2

A power chord is played using the first and middle and pinky fingers.  You play with a fret in between the two strings you are using.  

Theory:

You are playing the 1 and the 5 leaving the chord open to interpretation (as in minor or major.)  It can be notated like C5.

Answer 3

In music, a power chord Play (help·info) (also fifth chord) is a note plus the note a fifth above, usually played on electric guitar. Theorists are divided on whether the term chord is appropriate, with some requiring a third note. Therefore, some would consider this "chord" to be a dyad or simply interval. However this usage is accepted among guitar players.

A power chord is conceived of and intended to be a triad with the "third" note omitted (thus it is neither major nor minor). In addition, such chords are usually played with octave doubling, so they actually do have three (or four) notes, although in music theory they are considered "equivalent". (However they do change the sound.)

Power chords are used where a distorted, "overdriven" tone is used, because including the third tends to result in unpleasant harmonics and an indistinct root note when combined with the additional overtones added by an amplifier or distortion pedal. They have the added advantage of being relatively easy to play (see "Fingering" below).

Although the use of the term "power chord" has, to some extent, spilled over into the vocabulary of other instrumentalists, namely keyboard and synthesizer players, it remains essentially a part of rock guitar culture and is most strongly associated with the overdriven electric guitar styles of hard rock, heavy metal, punk rock, and similar genres. When the same interval is found in traditional and classical music, the harmonic interpretation will be much more varied, not necessarily implying a triad with the third degree omitted.

Power chords are sometimes notated 5, as in C5 (C power chord), in which case it specifically refers to playing the root and fifth of the chord, in this case C and G, possibly inverted, and possibly with octave doublings.