This is the third installment in the Beginner Guitar Chords series. If you are just starting out, I encourage you to check out the first two lessons:
The next two beginner guitar chords you should learn are E minor and A minor. The E minor chord is a two finger chord that has a big sound. I think you’ll like it. The A minor chord is cool in its own right. I can’t tell you how many songs you could learn once you know the major chords from Part 1 and Part 2 along with these two simple minor chords.
We will learn these two chords in the open position just like we did with the major chords. Open position simply means that your hand is fretting the strings up near the nut (by the tuners). These “open position” chords have a big, full sound because most (if not all) of the strings are strummed when playing these chords and they make use of the open strings.
Beginner Guitar Chords: A minor and E minor
Here are the chord diagrams for each chord which show which finger goes on what fret.
A Minor
E Minor
Practice the Chords
Practice these in the same manner you practiced the chords from Part 1 and Part 2; play the chord and then pick each note to make sure each string rings perfectly clear. (Figure 1 and Figure 1a)
A Minor Tab (Figure 1)
E Minor Tab (Figure 1a)
Play Along with these Songs
Check out these songs for some examples of great tunes that use some of the chords you have learned:
- Runaround – Blues Traveler
- Who’ll Stop the Rain – Credence Clearwater Revival
- Wonderful Tonight – Eric Clapton
For the more adventurous, try out Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd, the melody parts around the chords are a challenge, but completely worth it.
Good luck and keep strumming!