If you haven’t already seen it, there is a lesson on thumb muting two modules later (module 14). Might be worth taking a sneak peek ahead.
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I would try to learn this barring the A chord with my index finger and muting the 6th string with my thumb. But, I think I would keep the strumming controlled in any case. This looks like a bluesy type figure, not something that requires big strums. The 2nd part goes to a normal D power chord at fret 5. Here I would mute the 6th string with the index finger extending a bit beyond the 5th string. There are some pretty fast changes in there, so again I would keep the strumming controlled.
Good luck!
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Actually, it would be easier to move this to a D power chord with a 4th string root. Instead of x577xx, you play xx032x. They are the exact same notes and much easier to get to. Then x555xx becomes xx001x. Looks like it’d be much easier (though, haven’t tried it myself).
Caveat: the open strings will change the sound a bit, probably need to use palm muting, depending on the sound that you are going for.
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Definitely mute 6th with thumb, and you would probably be playing a lot of this with barred index or ring finger.
It’s definitely not full strums. Yes you need to be precise. What kind of music is this? Looks like rock or metal? If you’re pure grade 2 it might be a bit hard.
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This is going to be song specific.
I would say that it is a more difficult technique to learn so power chord beginners focus on strumming the fretted strings initially.
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I recently studied some tabs with similar chords and was somewhat confused how to play them.
I then started to dip a little deeper into power chords and found out (in a very basic course somewhere else, found by accident), that apart of two finger or three finger power chords, there are also open 2 note or three note power chords, which are tabbed like above.
The first one is an open A power chord and should be played with a muted 6th string (thumb), fretted E note on the D string and muted strings 1 2 and 3 by index finger.
The second one is also an A power chord with open A string, note E on the D string and a second A note on the G string.
E string is muted again with thumb, D and G string are fretted with a mini barre by index, B and high E string muted by index.
It’s mentioned in the course, that apart from muting, it’s a bit a question of precision.
The single notes (5 and 3 on the A string could be linking the adjacent chords as transition notes.
I currently finished Grade 3 lessons, but didn’t get that so far.
I didn’t start with the rock course here yet, maybe it’s covered there? If anyone knows, would be helpful to know 
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Edit:
While I was typing, @Richard
answered too, maybe he knows more 
.
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it’s rock indeed. Lo/Hi by the black keys if you want to try it yourself.
Muting with thumb and a bit more precise strumming seams to be doing the job.
thanks for the help
My introduction to power chords. Great lesson! Cheers Justin!
I’ve been practicing a fair bit of power chords in the recent week, and have been plagued by wrist pain. I’m not sure if it’s because my wrist posture is off. Can someone tell me if this is bad:
Looking at my own photos, it doesn’t seem too different from Justin:
There have been discussions in the past about wrist pain. In that video, the guitar teacher (who isn’t Justin) says that the wrist should not be bent at all, i.e. the palm of the hand should be parallel to the floor. That is certainly comfortable, but I can’t figure out how to play power chords with the wrist completely straight.
Any ideas?
(Just to put it out there—I’m younger than Justin, so it’s definitely not the onset of arthritis.)
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Justin has been playing for decades.
Raise the guitar head so the neck is more at a 45 degree angle when you are playing power chords towards the nut.
It should reduce your wrist angle a lot
Also elbow out more! not close to the body
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What Rob says!
Your wrist looks like it has a LOT of bend.
When I play power chords, my wrist is bent considerably less than what you see in Justin’s photo there. I keep my elbow low & tucked close to my body with about a 30 degree up-angle to the neck of the guitar & don’t have any wrist pain. That said, we’re all built differently so this may not work for you… I would try to limit the wrist angle though!
Tod
PS Took me a few minutes but I remembered & found this advice Fretting Hand Wrist Position for Better Finger Reach & No Wrist Pain in another thread (same video in that post) that may be useful!
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Good memory as always Tod 
Hey @barny, the video in that post Tod linked, really helped me finding easier and pain free adjustments to my wrist (and shoulders too). It’s been almost a year now, I still train Jiu-jitsu 4 times a week, guitar 6 days a week, and my wrist has barely bothered me as much as it used to since I made some of those adjustments.
Just remember to listen to your own body. Everybody’s physical makeup is different, so what might be comfortable for one person (especially if they’ve been doing it from an early age) might not be comfortable for someone else (especially when learning at an older age, our bodies are less forgiving). However, there are some general principles that once you’re aware of them and integrate them into your playing, it becomes much more comfortable and safer to practice in the long term.
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Stand up and play
I had the same problem you have right now. Someone told me to stand up use A guitar strap to play. You need to point your headstock up higher 30 to 45° would do great. Also, you need to keep your wrist straighter and bend more at the finger joints by your palm of your hand. Do those two things and practice for a few days. You will be great!
For me it took about 2 days of playing that way and then I could sit down and play with no pain after that because I knew how to hold The guitar.
Hope this helps. Good luck on your guitar journey!
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Thanks for the responses everyone! I’ll definitely try out your suggestions.
You mean my elbow should be higher? Wouldn’t that make things worse?
That definitely would help, but how high do you have to keep the neck of the guitar to get that angle? One problem I have is that I can’t seem to find a way to keep the neck much further up without help from the fretting hand; the guitar neck just slides down (along with the strap). Maybe I have to change the way the guitar rests on my leg.
Yeah, it actually did already help, especially with the F chord. (I linked to that same video in my original post.) In this case, I just couldn’t figure out how to straighten my wrist with power chords. For the F chord, I could tilt my fingers sideways, and it just works. But I can’t seem to do the same for power chords. I’ll experiment with it a bit more.
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That is something that didn’t even occur to me. I can see how that might help. Thanks for the tip; I’ll definitely try it out!
Just try it out from your body more, with the head further up/angled
its about finding what works for you
There is a F in the basic exercice but I can’t find where it’s discussed or shown in this session?
From the lesson material:
To play power chords, you need to have memorized and play the notes on the bottom two strings. Make sure you can quickly find any note on strings 5 & 6.
So, Justin is assuming you know that the F power chord is formed on string 6, fret 1 or string 5, fret 8.
Thanks I missed that it’s clear now!