E Minor Chord on Guitar

1,008 guitar chords with several shapes each, finger numbers, difficulty and real sound, in any tuning.

E minor is a minor chord made of 3 notes: E, G, B. It sounds darker and more serious than a major chord, and you hear it in sad songs, ballads and most Bollywood minor-key melodies. It is the i chord of E minor and turns up in 5 other keys.

The library above opens on Em with 14 shapes up and down the neck, starting with hand-checked ones. Tap a shape to hear it, or play it one string at a time.

Notes in Em

Note	Degree	Interval from E	Semitones
E	1	root	0
G	♭3	minor third	3
B	5	perfect fifth	7

Formula: 1 – ♭3 – 5.

How to play Em

Open positionBeginner022000

A-shape barre at fret 7Mediumx79987

Open positionBeginnerxx2000

Open positionBeginner0220xx

Open positionEasy022403

Fret 7Beginnerxxx987

Open position (root on the 6th string), step by step

2nd finger (middle): 5th string, 2nd fret (B, the fifth).
3rd finger (ring): 4th string, 2nd fret (E, the root).
Let the 6th string, 3rd string, 2nd string, 1st string ring open (E, G, B, E).
Strum from the 6th string across all six strings.

Tips

The open position shape is the one to learn first. Once it is easy, try the shape at the 7th fret (x79987): the same chord, higher and brighter, handy when the chords before and after it sit up the neck.

Keys and progressions with Em

Em belongs to 6 keys: iii in C major, ii in D major, vi in G major, i in E minor, v in A minor, iv in B minor. In E minor, try i–VI–III–VII: Em – C – G – D.