Minor chords add depth and emotion to songs, creating feelings of reflection.
The open G tuning is an ideal tuning for playing minor chords and Delta blues – in fact it has even been adopted by famous artists like Jack White of The White Stripes!
A minor
Open “G” minor and standard D major share the same interval layout at their nuts (open position), creating opportunities for innovative chord strategies as well as melodic applications in different keys.
As part of developing your musicality and versatility, familiarizing yourself with the G natural minor scale notes and chords can be extremely useful. Doing this will enable you to produce more musical sounds when playing in any key, as well as use these chords as starting points for more advanced movable ones like sus and add chords.
Although open g is typically associated with blues music, it has also found application in rock. A great example is Keith Richards’ five string Tele tuned to open g. Other musicians such as Joni Mitchell have also explored this unique tuning. With its rich sound and compatibility with slide guitar and creative potential it provides, open g stands out among its counterparts as an exceptional tuning option.
D minor
Add minor chords to your open G tuning repertoire is an effective way of expanding your fretboard knowledge. While they may prove more challenging than their major chord counterparts, there is plenty of variety available and choices await.
This D minor chord, consisting of D – F – A notes, serves as the tonic chord in its respective key and can be found throughout many genres of music.
The D minor scale is a natural minor scale, meaning that it lacks additional flats or sharps like those seen in major scales. However, since D minor has its relative major as F major, there is one additional flat in this scale – B flat.
Combining a D minor chord with its minor seventh produces a D minor six chord, providing an alternative voicing to D minor seven that adds depth and variety to chord progressions.
E minor
E minor chords are an integral component of many songs and can add a layer of tension and sadness. Furthermore, transposing songs to this key is easy – providing another great opportunity to practice fretboard navigation and expand chord progression skills.
Open G tuning’s greatest strength lies in its chords: staggered and barre shapes can easily be moved up and down the fretboard, and adding sevenths by moving your finger up one fret can be accomplished simply.
Some players, like Keith Richards, opt to play only with five strings, making chord progression even simpler and enabling unique hammer-ons and pull-offs that add even more distinction to your music. This method works especially well when used with minor chords that often get labeled “downers,” giving rise to moody and melancholic sounds.
G minor
G minor chords can be easily formed in open G tuning with minimal effort. One way of playing these chords involves placing your index finger across the first three strings (E, B & G) at the third fret and using this simplified version of a Gm chord for beginners who wish to work on finger dexterity and barre chord techniques.
More experienced musicians may wish to try playing a more complex Gm bar chord shape by placing their index finger on the fifth fret of the high D string and placing their index finger above it – this requires greater dexterity but provides all of the versatility of Gm major chord.
Though less popular among mainstream music, G minor chords can create an effective sound to evoke feelings of anxiety and unease, as evidenced by Cherry Glazerr’s hit “Had Ten Dollaz.” Additionally, they possess the unique capacity to move between optimism and pessimism with ease.