Stop 1 of 6
What is a chord?
Your first chord, E minor, and the idea of several notes at once.
Loading…
Stop 1 of 6
Your first chord, E minor, and the idea of several notes at once.
So far you've played notes one at a time: one string, one fret, one sound. As you enter the forest you take the biggest step towards accompanying songs: making several notes sound at once. That's a chord, and the first one you'll master is the friendliest on the whole guitar: E minor, with just two fingers.
First listen to the six notes of E minor one after another, like a very slow melody:
Now listen to those same six notes at once:
Same material, completely different effect. In the first version your ear follows a path; in the second it receives a block of sound, a kind of colour or mood. That block is a .
A melody is a line of notes. A chord is a stack of notes.
Melody (notes in a row)
Notes sound one after another. It's what you sing or whistle: the part of a song you remember.
Chord (notes together)
Notes sound at the same time. It's the "background" that holds the melody up: what the guitar does when it accompanies a singer.
The guitar is great at accompanying precisely because it has six strings: one hand forms the chord and the other makes it ring in a single sweep.
This is how you play Em. Tap the diagram to hear it:
Build it step by step:
That sweeping gesture is a , and when it goes from string 6 towards string 1 (towards the floor) it's called a . It's the only one you need in this stage.
If you switch the diagram labels from fingers to note names, you discover something curious:
From low to high you hear E, B, E, G, B and E. Six strings, but only three different notes: E, G and B. The rest are repeats of those same notes, lower or higher.
String 6, Open: E2 · 1 · Scale tone
The note that names the chord, E here, is its . In E minor it sits on the lowest string, string 6, which is why the chord sounds so solid: the root is the first thing you hear when you strum down.
When one note vibrates exactly twice as fast as another, our ear hears them as so alike that we give them the same name. Open string 6 (low E) and string 4 at fret 2 (an E one step higher) are in that relationship, and open string 1 doubles it again. That's why repeating notes doesn't change a chord's identity: it only makes it thicker and more resonant. You'll study this relationship, the octave, in depth in The Valley of Sound.
Hear the difference between the three different notes alone and the full six-string chord. Same chord, more body:
Not every chord has the same "mood". Listen to these two, one after the other:
The first is E major and the second is E minor. Most people describe major as brighter, more open or happier, and minor as darker, more intimate or wistful. They're the two basic colours of harmony:
Now look at both diagrams side by side. Can you spot the difference?
Only one string changes: string 3. In E major it's fretted at fret 1 (G♯); in E minor it rings open (G). One note, one fret apart, and the character of the chord flips. You'll come back to this idea in Minor chords, and in Harmony City you'll learn exactly why it happens.
Both E and Em are : played near the nut, letting open strings ring. Every chord in this stage is one.
A strummed chord hides mistakes: if a string doesn't ring, you may not even notice. That's why guitarists have a ritual: play the chord one string at a time, from 6 to 1, listening to each note. Press Arpeggiate on the diagram to hear how it should sound:
If a string fails, it's usually one of three causes:
| What you hear | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Metallic buzz | Finger too far from the fret or pressing too lightly | Move the finger right behind the fret |
| A "thunk" with no note | A finger touches a neighbouring string | Curve the finger more, use the tip |
| Dull sound | You're pressing on top of the fret | Move back a little, behind the wire |
Goal: 10 times in a row: place E minor, check all six strings one by one, all ringing clean.
Start the metronome and play one down-strum on every click, counting out loud "1, 2, 3, 4". Don't worry about volume yet: a soft, even strum is worth more than a loud one. Listen to the example first:
When you've got it, try playing along with the audio.
Goal: Strum E minor down, one per click, for 8 bars in a row at 60 BPM without losing the beat.
Practice blocks ticked: 0 · Self-assessments taken: 0