Just wanted to have a quick look into the community, as I saw your post @jkahn. Good question!
I just started with Power cords, 3 finger version to be exact. Happy, that meanwhile they also sound like Power chords.
Guys, you’re confusing me right in the morning…
So, there is the three finger version, the two note-two finger version and the two finger barre version with 3 notes.
Richard @Richard_close2u says, that the 3rd note is not needed. Is that only as he says “with a lot of volume and a good dose of overdrive” or a basic recommendation regardless of volume and distortion?
Which kind of chords should be practiced mainly, what covers the biggest part of use? Sorry, if this is maybe a stupid question… 
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Caveat to my earlier comment … 2 strings or 3 strings for power chords … all is good.
Play a 2 string power chord - bingo, it will sound good.
Play a 3 string power chord - bingo, it will sound good.
Those two statements are especially true if on an electric guitar with some good girth dialed in through your amp.
This … back in the first reply … says it.
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There are no stupid questions Helen.
Context can determine which variety gets used. And it mainly is personal preference. I would guess that I mostly use 3 strings on acoustic and electric unless there is a reason to drop the higher pitch octave on the extra string - say I need to reach out with my 4th finger for some embellishment or need to slide around at great speed or it just doesn’t quite sound right. I am aware of the fact that I can choose and do so with ease so it will pay off long term to become familiar with both.
It is not a right / wrong situation at all.
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Not being that much of a metalhead, I skipped the power chord chapter and thought of it as ‘the first bit’ of a barre chord 
If I was going to do a distorted power chord song/recording, I think I’d drop the E to D and use one finger, not really caring how many of the first 3 strings I hit, as long as I was going at 90 mph 
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Thanks Richard, that helps a lot! 
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I’m not either, but you should maybe give it a try at some point, playing that Power chords is much more fun than I expected.
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Slightly different perspective to throw another wrench in, but sometimes I’ll use 3 note power chords for 6th string roots and 2 notes for 5th string roots. Why? Finger economy when crossing strings. The 6th string roots will look exactly the the same as normal but for 5th string roots instead of using fingers 1 and 3 use 1 and 4. So basically when switching between 6th and 5th string roots you just move 1st finger down one while anchoring the pinky.
Will feel weird at first but it actually makes crossing strings really efficient and easier. I don’t do it all the time but when theirs a tricky or fast change I will.
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Well this one turned out a bit bigger than I expected.
Seems they’re both OK - well I knew that bit already - it was more around the “why?”.
Seems it’s about the sound difference of the different ways of playing PC’s and plain old preference.
To accurately play a song like the artist did, playing the way they played it makes sense. So Enter Sandman is 2 note power chords in most riffs and the 3 note open E power chord aplenty as well. I had been being a bit lazy in my practice and using the 3 note ones everywhere because I found that more natural. I think I’ll be changing that up.
@adi_mrok I looked up tabs for Readymade and they’re 3 note power chords in the tabs 
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Thanks guys
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The 3 notes do sound a bit brighter. I’ve seen some songs where longer notes are done with 3 notes and shorter ones are done with 2 maybe because of that, but they are so close in sound though that I doubt many people would be able to tell the difference and it’s mostly around what’s most comfortable for the person playing them.
I used to only use 3 note power chords but now it mostly depends on what I’m playing. Like if I’m switching from an open power chord I’ll almost always switch to a 2 note because it’s easier. If the song starts with power chords I’ll probably use 3 throughout, and of course I’ll use what I mentioned (2 for 5th root and 3 for 6th) if I’m jumping around a lot in a fast tempo.
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Hmm ones I were using were showing 2 note power chord and to my ear this octave note is not sounding great, makes it too bright to me. But yet again that is all down to a personal preference 
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Keeping a beady eye on this thread (to ass to the list of others!) as I’ve stuck with the 3 note power chords so far from the original module. As I get to develop the rock repertoire I’ll be keeping this in mind, really interesting discussion, nice on raising it JK!
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My take on it is fairly simple really, if you want to “chug” with lots of gain and maybe a fuzz pedal then it’s not good to add the octave, it’s not needed and may even spoil your tone.
When you’ve got crunch to moderate gain then it’s ok but it could be good to just play the octave and fifth and get the bass to cover the lowest note, or if you’ve got no bass then the three note is good.
In the end you need to experiment and find out what’s going to suit best what you’re playing. Use your ears!
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I suspect it depends on context. In some songs or even genres, that extra brightness is desirable.
As an example, it’s not uncommon in rock to play the standard open A chord with the addition of the A on the 5th fret high E-string to provide that extra brightness.
Cheers,
Keith
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And so have I as that was what is shown in the lesson. Will investigate the 2 note or 2 finger options.
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I’ve read a couple of interviews with Eddy Van Halen, where he said he mostly just played 2 note power chords.
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It really depends. Here is one of the best current rock guitarists, Doug Aldrich, using both in a classic song:
Take a look at Holy Diver here: the main sequence is 2-notes but then there are a couple additional cords that are 3 notes with 3 fingers.
5:45 and 6:40 if you want to cut down to the shapes 
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Not much of a metal head myself, but after a few sessions to start to get the hang of these I was rocking out earlier today, with heaps of distortion to “Come as you are” on the song app…
Then after following a link from here, “Holy Diver”
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Dio (RIP) was the greatest, so was his band and Holy Diver was a massive favourite of mine and I really used to enjoy when her indoors went out and I could cut loose with it 
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Cutting loose this lunchtime with “Paranoid” by Black Sabbath… At least the first couple of bits in Justin’s lesson.
Remembering walking through the students union hearing that continously on the juke box…1975/6?
Addictive to play, is there a lesson for “Barracuda” by Heart ?
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