The A Minor Chord on Guitar
In this video we're learning about the A minor chord on guitar!
We’re going to cover how to create the A minor chord, what music notes it is made of and talk about some songs you can find it in!
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Transcription
So in today's video we're going to work on the a minor chord. So the easiest way to make the A minor chord is in the open position. So that would be the open A string, the 2nd fret D string, 2nd fret G string, 1st fret B, and the open E string at the bottom. A common question with beginners is, how do I mute that E string? Or how do I only strum those bottom five strings? What do I do there? Because every chord grid I see says X out the E string. So let's start with the reason why we X it out. So the A minor chord is made up of A, C and E, but we want A to be that lowest bass note. So if that E string is open, it'd be the equivalent of on the piano instead of playing A, C, E for A minor, you’re playing E, A, C or something like that. So what we want is we want to mute that string so that A is our bottom note for the bass. For beginners I'll tell them actually to don’t worry about it. And the reason I say don't worry about is because E is in the chord. So it's not going to sound bad. It's just gonna be an inversion of A minor, being A minor over the E bass. Just to get started you know, get that A minor chord clean. Technically, A minor over E. But as you get better at it, you slowly get that thumb over so that you can mute it and you can mute it quickly. That way you can strum all six strings and not have to worry about it. Like I was saying before, the chord is made up of the notes A, C and E. You can find the A minor chord in the keys of C major, G major and F major. Or the relative minors of A minor, E minor or D minor. Now if I was sitting at the piano, I would play the notes A, C, E to play the A minor chord. Because of the amount of strings we have, we need to do a combination of those. So again we would mute the E string, then we'll play the A, E, A again, C, and then another E. We'll mute the E string, we’re playing A, E, A again, C, and another E. The A minor chord is a super popular chord. And you're going to find in a lot of songs like House of the Rising Sun, Don't Fear the Reaper, Angie, Karma Police and a lot more. And of course there's multiple ways you can play the A minor on the guitar. So here's a few of them… So that's a wrap on the A minor chord! Just remember, as long as you’re getting those notes clean and you keep practicing. Eventually it’s going to become second nature for you and just be super easy to play. If you enjoyed the video, please don't forget to like! If you want more guitar, please subscribe! Now go out there, play some songs and Happy Practicing!