GuitarChords.net

E minor guitar chord

E minor is E, G, and B. Two fingers, and four strings with no finger. Start with the first picture; the list names each string in words.

x means muted. 0 means open.

E minor

Short code 022000, thickest string first.

  1. Low E string: open, note E, 1st.
  2. A string: fret 2, middle finger, note B, 5th.
  3. D string: fret 2, ring finger, note E, 1st.
  4. G string: open, note G, 3rd.
  5. B string: open, note B, 5th.
  6. High E string: open, note E, 1st.

E minor uses the notes E, B and G.

This is a beginner grip.

People write "Em" for "E minor".

The first shape does not use a barre.

Another shape on this page uses a barre.

The next beginner chord on this site is A minor. Open the A minor page.

More E guitar chords.

Also E major, E dominant 7, E major 7, E minor 7, E suspended 2, E suspended 4, E power chord, E diminished, E augmented.

E minor, another shape

Short code 022453, thickest string first.

Barre fret 2 with the index finger on the A and D strings.

  1. Low E string: open, note E, 1st.
  2. A string: fret 2, index finger, note B, 5th.
  3. D string: fret 2, index finger, note E, 1st.
  4. G string: fret 4, ring finger, note B, 5th.
  5. B string: fret 5, pinky finger, note E, 1st.
  6. High E string: fret 3, middle finger, note G, 3rd.

E minor uses the notes E, B and G.

Why does this E minor use only two fingers?

The first picture is E, G, and B. That is E minor. Two fingers are enough because four strings have no finger: the thick E, the G, the B, and the high E. The second picture keeps the open thick E, bars fret 2, and puts G on the high E. Same three notes. The barre shape usually sounds thicker.

If the E minor in a song sounds thicker or higher than the first picture, try the barre picture lower on this page. It is still E minor.

This site shows the chord. It does not play the recording. The first picture is mostly open strings. A recording that sounds darker or higher may be the barre shape or a capo (a clamp that raises every string). Changing too fast into A minor can also make a clean E minor sound messy. Check those before you decide your fingers failed.

G is the note that makes this chord minor instead of major. On the first picture that G is the open G string. Play E major after this E minor. On E major that note is G sharp. Listen for G turning into G sharp.

You can play E minor well and A minor well and still have trouble in a song that uses both. The hard part is moving from this first E minor shape to the first A minor shape without stopping. No finger stays on the same string and fret. Practice that change slowly.

Chords that go with E minor

The matching major chord is G major. Open the G major page.

This site also has C major and D major.

Progressions that start on E minor

Play each line in order.

E minor, A minor, B major, E minor

E minor (Em) and A minor (Am) stay in the sad room. Then B major (B) lights up and yanks you home so hard it can raise the hair on your arms. Sad folk, Spanish-flavored guitar, and a lot of film music from the 60s on use that bright last lean. It feels like crying with your back straight.

E minor, C major, G major, D major

Em is the mood. C major (C), G major (G), and D major (D) refuse to let the song stop and cry in the corner. It feels like washing dishes after a hard day with a pop song on: not happy, not wrecked, still going. A lot of 2010s pop and alternative radio lives right here.

E minor, D major, C major, B major

The chords walk down like stairs, then B major flips a light. Rock and dramatic pop — think late-70s through 80s radio — love that walk into a sudden bright chord. Held breath, then a yes. Skin can jump.

E minor, A minor, D major, E minor

Stays sad the whole way. D major is a window, not a rescue. Folk and rock ballads that do not want a happy ending. A porch at dusk, not a dance floor.

E minor, G major, D major, E minor

G major shows up brighter, like a cousin who still smiles. Then D major, then back into Em. 1990s and 2000s pop that wants a little daylight inside a sad song. Not cheerful. Not hopeless.

Songs with E minor

Listen for this chord, then use the grip on this page.

A Horse With No Name

E minor sits in this America song. The recording is in E minor. It also uses D major. The verse is E minor, D major.

E minor is the first chord of the verse and the chord the song keeps coming back to.

America put A Horse With No Name out in 1971. Dewey Bunnell wrote it in a friend’s bedroom near London. E minor (Em) is one of two chords in the song. It is dry and open. It is the chord the verse sits on.

Dewey has told this for years. He was about 19. His family had moved up to Yorkshire, where his mother was from. He wanted to stay in London, so he moved in with a friend.

It was raining. He missed the desert from when he was a kid, when his father was in the U.S. Air Force and they lived near Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

He said the song was born out of boredom after high school. He wrote it in a couple of hours. He first called it Desert Song.

He told that story to American Songwriter in 2020.

E minor is the dry, open chord you play for most of that song. Then you play D major and come back to E minor.