Minor chords are an effective way to add a relaxed tone to your music, so get acquainted with some basic open string minor chord shapes and experiment with their progressions.
This minor triad contains an interval that provides stability and resolution; moving one semitone up from it yields A minor.
1. E minor
E minor chord is one of the most renowned and versatile minor chords, used across a variety of musical genres and capable of adding emotional depth to any tune.
E minor is a key with a natural minor scale and key signature, meaning it contains one sharp rather than two flats in its notes: E, F, G, A, B and C.
When playing E minor, the first note should be played an octave higher; this gives the chord an unusual sound and character.
To play the E minor triad, position your thumb (1st finger) on A, your middle finger (3rd finger) on C and pinky (5th finger) on B. Practice this finger pattern up and down the neck until you feel comfortable playing it.
2. A minor
The A minor chord is one of the most emotive and melancholic tones in music, thanks to its distinct tone and easy fingering technique. Used for conveying tranquillity or adding bittersweet flair in powerful rock anthems, its use should be considered essential by any skilled guitarist and songwriter.
A minor is one of the easiest guitar chords to learn – even beginners can quickly pick up this popular fingering pattern without needing to stretch their fingers far apart. Simply lay down one finger over string B at fret 1, followed by moving a second one onto string G at fret 2 while leaving open any high E string frets.
3. D minor
D minor is an ideal key for songs about romantic longing and despair, yet has many additional applications with other chords and scales.
A Dm triad, comprising of D, F and A notes, is the simplest D minor triad and may be played using either a barre chord at the fifth fret or with your thumb over the fingerboard (this may be easier on some guitars).
When creating the Dm triad from the D natural minor scale, start on D with your pinky of your left hand, moving up through D, F, A and finally B on fingers two and three of both hands until reaching A at your thumb. Note that names for descending notes simply reverse themselves!
4. G minor
G minor is one of the lesser-used minor chords in popular music, yet when used properly it can add a dramatic impact to a track. Most commonly found in EDM, Hard Dance, Drum n Bass and Heavy Metal where its powerful tone conveys meanness or disquiet.
Pop or Rock genres such as Cherry Glazerr’s Had Ten Dollaz employ this chord with devastating results, using its menacing qualities against an upbeat backdrop replete with brass instruments and subtle yet melancholic harmony lines.
Create something truly original with this chord by adding notes outside of its traditional triad structure – this technique is known as adding flavor. Doing this can produce different emotions ranging from emotional pathos to thrilling exhilaration.
5. C minor
C minor is an elegant key that offers versatile chord progressions for creating sad, bluesy or aggressive music. Additionally, this key can create harmonic rhythm by regularly shifting chords at regular intervals to add progression into your music.
Minor key chords are easy to build as the scale’s pattern closely mirrors that of its major equivalent; yet starting half step lower. That explains why minor key signatures look similar.
C minor chords are most frequently seen as C minor bar chords, played on either the third or fourth fret of your guitar. When playing this chord improvised over it can use either C minor blues scale for added bluesiness, or C dorian mode for an alternative darker sound.