Inverted Power Chord
5inv
0 - 5Root + perfect 4th (inverted 5th)
About Inverted Power Chord
An inverted power chord is a fifth turned upside down — instead of a root with a fifth above it, a root with a fourth above it, in C that is C and F, written C5 with F in the bass or as an inversion. It sounds thinner and higher-strung than the ordinary power chord, and guitarists use it for exactly that difference.
Notes and formula
The formula is 1 – 4, or 0 – 5 in semitones. Invert a perfect fifth — move its lower note up an octave — and a perfect fourth is what remains.
The two notes are the same pitch classes as the fifth they came from. What changes is which of them is on the bottom, and with only two notes sounding, that is enough to change the character completely.
Why the inversion sounds different
A perfect fifth reinforces the lower note's overtone series: the upper note is already present in it, so the pair fuses into something that sounds like one thick tone. A perfect fourth does not — the lower note is a partial of the upper one rather than the other way round.
The ear reads this as instability. A fourth in the bass has been treated as a dissonance in Western counterpoint for six hundred years, and the sensation survives distortion and amplification unchanged.
How to play it
On guitar the shape is x–3–3–x–x–x, sounding C and the F above it: two adjacent strings at the same fret, where the ordinary power chord needs a two-fret stretch.
Because the guitar is tuned in fourths across most of the neck, playing two adjacent open strings already produces this interval. It is the most accidental chord on the instrument.
Where it is used
In riffs that want tension without a third — post-punk, math rock and a good deal of metal built on stacked fourths. Where a fifth sounds settled, this sounds like it is leaning.
It is also the natural sound of quartal harmony, and a riff built entirely on inverted fifths takes on the same unanchored quality that quartal chords give a jazz voicing.
Against the ordinary power chord
C with a G above it is stable and heavy, because the upper note is already sounding inside the lower one's overtone series. C with an F above it is neither: the interval is a fourth, the reinforcement runs the wrong way, and the pair leans instead of resting.
For a rhythm part that has to sound solid, the ordinary form is the right one. For a riff that has to sound restless, this one is.
Scales that go with it
Any, as with all power chords: without a third the chord decides nothing about quality.
In practice it is paired with the same minor pentatonic and blues vocabulary as the ordinary power chord, and with modal scales in the styles that use stacked fourths deliberately.
Frequently asked questions
What notes are in an inverted power chord on C?
C and the note a perfect fourth above it, F. They are the same two pitch classes as a power chord with the lower one moved.
Why does it sound less solid than a normal power chord?
A fifth reinforces the overtone series of its lower note; a fourth does not. The ear reads the fourth in the bass as leaning rather than resting, and distortion does not change that.
When would I choose it?
For riffs that need tension without committing to major or minor — post-punk, math rock, and anything built on stacked fourths.