E Minor guitar chord
Three notes across one string set.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Em — triad voicings
Em is E, G and B — E with the third lowered a semitone.
It sounds darker than a major triad, and just as settled. The i of a minor key, and the vi, ii or iii of a major one.
Em notes and formula
| E | G | B |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 |
Tonic — minor chords rest as readily as major ones.
Also written Emin, E- or E minor. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Em
Three notes on one string set. No seventh, so nothing is claimed about the chord beyond its quality.
Thin on their own, excellent over a bass line or against someone else’s harmony.
Em has 48 of them, on the high-middle three, the bottom three strings, the low-middle three, the top four strings, the bottom four strings, the middle four strings, the top three strings, strings 6-4-3-2 and strings 5-3-2-1, from the 2nd fret up to the 14th — every inversion the chord has: E in the bass, G in the bass and B in the bass. The one to learn first is the E shape at the 2nd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
6 of them sit on the top four strings, so you can run the inversions up one set without changing strings — which is the whole reason to learn them as a family rather than as separate grips.
Start with 022000 — no barre and 4 open strings. 2 of the 10 shapes here sit in open position. 2 of the 10 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 2nd fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 022000 | open position | E, root position | E | 4 open strings |
| 022453 | open position | E, root position | G | 1 open string |
| xx2453 | 2nd fret | E, root position | G | all fretted |
| xx5453 | 3rd fret | G, 1st inversion | G | all fretted |
| x7545x | 4th fret | E, root position | E | all fretted |
| x79987 | 7th fret | E, root position | B | all fretted |
| x-10-9-9-8-x | 8th fret | G, 1st inversion | G | all fretted |
| 12-10-9-9-x-12 | 9th fret | E, root position | E | all fretted |
| 12-14-14-12-12-12 | 12th fret | E, root position | E | barred |
| x-x-14-12-12-12 | 12th fret | E, root position | E | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 6 open string voicings, each on its own page.
How to use Em
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Em is F#m7♭5 to B7♭9: the ii and the V of E minor, which is where a minor tonic is usually arrived at rather than simply begun on.
In which keys. Every note of Em belongs to C major (the iii), D major (the ii), E minor (the i), G major (the vi), A minor (the v) and B minor (the iv).
What to play over Em
Every note of Em is in E minor pentatonic, E blues, E dorian, E natural minor and E phrygian.
Chords near Em
Change one note of Em and you have E (the minor third becomes a major third), Edim (the fifth becomes a flat fifth), Esus2 (the minor third becomes a ninth), Esus4 (the minor third becomes a fourth), Em6 (add the sixth) or Em7 (add the flat seventh).
Em is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On Em’s sound and use this page follows Edward Aldwell & Carl Schachter, Harmony and Voice Leading (Schirmer / Cengage, 4th ed., 2011). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.