C⁵

About the C5 chord

The C5 chord (power chord) is made up of 2 notes — C is the root and G the perfect fifth. There is no third at all, just the root and fifth, which is why it sounds neither major nor minor.

On guitar, C5 chords sit higher up the neck: x355xx, around the 3rd fret. Leave the low E, B and high E strings out and strum the rest. The diagrams above show 4 playable voicings in all.

Power chords are just root and fifth — no third — giving the punchy, neutral sound of rock and metal.

Open C5 in the interactive finder →

Common questions

What notes are in the C5 chord?

The C5 chord contains the notes C and G.

How do you play C5 on guitar?

A common shape is x355xx. The diagrams above show 4 playable voicings you can strum or hear.

What intervals make up the C5 chord?

The C5 chord is built from the root (C) and a perfect fifth (G).

More than a chord chart

The chart above is just the start. Open C5 in the finder to hear it on guitar and piano and browse every playable voicing side by side. Or switch to Name my chord — tap frets or keys and MobileChords identifies the chord you're playing, inversions and slash chords included.