Learning to play the guitar is one of the most rewarding activities in the world. Being able to make beautiful-sounding music with your hands is incredibly joyous and satisfying, but it can be a little intimidating at first!
In this lesson, we’ll learn how to play a minor am on guitar using only 3 fingers: our index finger, middle finger, and ring finger. This will help you to get started on playing chords on the guitar.
Read on below to get started.
How To Play A Minor On GuitarStep By Step
To start, You will want to give your index, middle, and ring fingers a good stretch. Luckily, your hand will not have to be as flexible as it needs to be for the f-chord, but it is still worth warming up first.
Take your index finger and place it on the second string from the bottom, and within the first fret. Hold your finger in place.
Now take your middle finger, place that on the fourth string up, and place it within the second fret. Once again, hold that finger in position.
You will want to ensure that your middle finger curves over towards the fourth string so that you do not accidentally press any other strings as you reach over. This helps to make the sound of the chord much crisper.
Finally, you need to take your ring finger and place it neatly beneath your middle finger, on the third string. The reason that you will need to put your ring finger just below your middle finger is that you need to ensure that you are using the second fret.
Don’t worry if you don’t get the positioning right straight away, as it takes some getting used to.
Now your hand is finally in the correct position to play the chord. Unlike many chords that require you to strum all of the strings in one fell swoop, this chord instead requires that you only strum the bottom five chords!
This is important, as including the top string will cause the sound to be slightly different, and this can be very unsatisfying.
Once again, it can take some time to get used to only strumming five out of the six strings, but with a little practice, it will become second nature.
How Can You Practice The A Minor Chord On Guitar?
A great way to practice the A Minor chord is to just take it slow, and practice getting your fingers into the correct positions.
Stretch your hand and then begin to put it into the correct position. Then take it out of position before putting it back into position.
Do this in succession until you slowly begin to get faster and faster at achieving the correct position.
You will also want to practice the strumming technique until that becomes easier. Start with the plectrum resting atop the fifth string, and then strum down.
Then repeat the motion again. Introduce a little bit of speed between each strum until you begin to get the right positioning every time.
You can improve your strumming technique by alternating between six-string strums and five-strings in quick succession. This will allow you to learn how to quickly switch between the two quickly, which will improve your song playing ability.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do you Hold a Minor Chord?
Holding onto the A Minor chord can be quite difficult to start with, but with enough practice, you’ll learn to get it right every single time. You may need to exert considerable force to hold the chord into place.
What Chords Go Well with a Minor?
C Major is one chord that complements the A Minor chord perfectly. You may also want to pair the A Minor chord with D Minor, E Minor, F Major, or G Major.
What Key is the Saddest?
D Minor is largely considered to be the ‘saddest’ key. This is because minor keys produce a rather ‘sad’ sound, and D Minor produces the lowest version of this sad sound.
What Chords Make Up The AM Chord?
The A Minor chord does not have sharps or flats. That means it will the AM chord will have the below notes;
A, E, A, C, E.
It’s essential to note that when playing the AM chord, the low E is the only string you will not strike. The low E remains silent throughout the AM chord, whether you’re playing an upward or downward pattern.
What Genres Play the AM Chord?
The AM chord is present in several genres, including blues, rock, country, pop, and folk. Some great examples by genre include;
Blues – As Years Go Passing By by Albert King, Still Got The Blues by Gary Moore, and Ain’t No Sunshine by Bill Withers
Rock – Losing My Religion by R.E.M and Where Is My Mind by the Pixies
Country – Take Me Home, Country Roads by John Denver and Ghost Riders in the Sky by Outlaws
Pop – California Girls by The Beach Boys and All of Me by John Legend
Folk – Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen and Skinny Love by Bon Iver
To Conclude – How To Play A Minor Am On Guitar
As you can see, playing the A Minor chord on a guitar is incredibly simple, and won’t put up too much difficulty.
Initially, it may feel rather unwieldy to place your fingers into the right position for the chord, but with frequent practice, you will soon be achieving the correct position in no time at all until it becomes second nature.
Learning the A Minor chord is very worthwhile as it gives you an easy way to add a lot of variety to your songs. It’s a versatile chord that can fit into almost any style of music.
If you want to master the A Minor chord, then you should also make a point of learning to strum the guitar using just five of the strings, as the chord sounds very unusual when all six strings are strummed.
My name is Howard Matthews and I have been playing the guitar since I was knee-high. My parents like to joke that I was pulling the strings even before I was born. In fact, one of my earliest memories is sitting on the couch with my dad’s guitar, wreaking havoc on the chords.
Now, 40 years later, I can attest that I play them much better than I did back then. I have followed in the footsteps of both my parents – much to their delight – and have been the main guitarist in my band for the best part of three decades.
Music has always been my passion, and until recently my life has been so consumed with it that I haven’t had a moment to have a breath (and I wouldn’t have it any other way)!
