How to play the E Minor chord on guitar
E minor is the easiest chord on the guitar: two fingers, four open strings, nothing muted. It is almost always the first chord taught, and it is also the one most often played sloppily precisely because it is forgiving.
E Minor is a minor triad — E, G, B. The flattened third is the single note that separates it from E major, and it is the whole reason it sounds darker.
Finger it one string at a time
- low E string: play it open.
- A string: fret 2 with your middle finger.
- D string: fret 2 with your ring finger.
- G string: play it open.
- B string: play it open.
- high E string: play it open.
Only 2 fingers needed! One of the easiest chords to play.
What makes this shape awkward
- 4 strings ring open, which is what gives this shape its sustain — but it also means any finger leaning against a neighbouring string will deaden it. Arch your knuckles.
Other voicings
E Minor can also be played with a different note in the bass. Each voicing keeps the same notes and changes which one you hear lowest.
- Root Position — E in the bass.
- 1st Inversion — G in the bass.
- 2nd Inversion — B in the bass.
Where you'll use it
Em appears in 3 of the play-along progressions in RiffRoute. These are the actual sequences it sits in:
- Open Sky Anthem (Britpop, 88 BPM) —
G → D → Em → C - Your Reflection (Modern Pop, 95 BPM) —
Em → C → G → D - Highland Mist (Celtic Folk, 84 BPM) —
Em → D → C → Bm
Keys it belongs to
Em is diatonic to these keys, which is why it turns up in songs written in them — the bracket is the degree it plays there:
Chords it's usually played with
In the progressions that use Em, these turn up alongside it most often — learning them together is more useful than learning Em alone.
Hear it and check yourself
Reading a diagram only gets you so far — the part that decides whether Em sounds right is whether every string rings cleanly. RiffRoute plays the chord back, listens while you strum it, and tells you which string is buzzing.