3. PUNTOS PERFECTOS

Centuries ago, Spanish guitarists referred to certain common chord fingerings as ‘puntos perfectos’- perfect points. These were major and minor chord voicings, most of which utilized an open string or two, enhancing resonance. Back in the days before Heavy Metal, some rock guitarists called them ‘power chords’ for the same reason. Later on, changing standards of volume and distortion led to the term ‘power chord’ being applied to drone (root + fifth) voicings. For the nineteenth century guitarist, the perfect power chords were the full first-position voicings of G major, C major, E minor, E major, A minor, A major, D minor, and D major. Today these chords still appear most frequently in all types of guitar music. They are often preferred as tonal centers for compositions.