A Guide for Beginners - Minor Chords - Page 2

by Christopher Sung The A Minor Chord
Let's start with the A Minor chord. For now, it probably isn't particularly important to know why it's called an A Minor or what it means to be 'Minor'. In practice, the main thing is to know how to play it and what it's called, so that when you jam with your friend and they say 'play an A Minor chord', you know what to do. The fingering for an A Minor chord is shown below:

So what does this mean? This is a typical chord chart. Each string can have one of three options:

1. X - which means don't play that string
2. O - which means play that string open
3. Note Marker - This shows you where to put your finger on the string and the number inside the marker tells you which one to use.

Thus, the chart for the A Minor chord above tells us the following:

• 1st String - Play it open
• 2nd String - Put your index finger on the 1st fret
• 3rd String - Put your ring finger on the 2nd fret
• 4th String - Put your middle finger on the 2nd fret
• 5th String - Play it open
• 6th String - Don't play it

So try it out. Put your fingers in place and strum it. It's OK if some notes don't ring. That's natural. In time, all the notes will ring loud and true. The important thing is that you just played an A Minor chord!.

One of the reasons why the A Minor chord is a good first minor chord is that it lays out on the fretboard in a very natural way for your hand. You'll also notice that it's much easier to play than the A Major chord. If you recall how an A Major chord is played, note that the only difference between these two chords is that the note played on the 2nd string for an A Minor is one fret lower than that for an A Major. You might want to alternate playing an A Major and then an A Minor so you can really hear the difference between the two, as well as understanding how your fingering has to change between chords.

Try playing the music example below, set your loop count to "Forever" in your preferences at the bottom of the page, hit the play button, wait for the music to start, and try to play along with the example. It'll help you become more comfortable with the chord.