A Minor Guitar Chord | Play, Hear and Practice Interactively

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An Am chord, A minor, consists of A, C and E. With 20 voicings on this page, 12 of them using open strings and eight using a barre, there is plenty of choice for the left hand.

It is the vi chord of C major, the ii chord of G major and the iii chord of F major, and it is the home chord when the key is A minor itself. To place it among other basic shapes, see the first ten guitar chords. The A minor pentatonic scale contains all three notes.

The fretboard at the top shows each shape with its notes labelled.

A minor guitar chord is also written as Am, Amin, A- or Ami.

A m chord Notes:

A C E

Tones of the Minor chord:

Formula: 1 b3 5

A M Guitar Chord Diagrams

Position 1 Open

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Let the A string play without pressing any fret
Let the high E string play without pressing any fret
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 1 of the B string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 2 of the D string
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 2 of the G string

Position 2 Barre Movable

Finger Positions

Place your index finger (1) on the fret 5 of the low E, G, B and high E strings at the same time
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 7 of the A string
Place your pinky finger (4) on the fret 7 of the D string

Position 3 Open

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Let the A string play without pressing any fret
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 7 of the D string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 8 of the high E string
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 9 of the G string
Place your pinky finger (4) on the fret 10 of the B string

Position 4 Barre Open

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Let the A string play without pressing any fret
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 5 of the G, B and high E strings at the same time
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 7 of the D string

Position 5 Open

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Let the high E string play without pressing any fret
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 1 of the B string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 2 of the D string
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 2 of the G string
Place your pinky finger (4) on the fret 3 of the A string

Position 6 Barre Movable

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Mute the A string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 5 of the G, B and high E strings at the same time
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 7 of the D string

Position 7 Open

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Mute the A string
Mute the D string
Let the high E string play without pressing any fret
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 5 of the B string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 5 of the G string

Position 8 Barre Movable

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 5 of the G, B and high E strings at the same time
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 7 of the A string
Place your pinky finger (4) on the fret 7 of the D string

Position 9 Movable

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Mute the A string
Mute the B string
Mute the high E string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 5 of the G string
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 7 of the D string

Position 10 Barre Movable

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Mute the A string
Mute the D string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 5 of the G, B and high E strings at the same time

Position 11 Open

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Let the A string play without pressing any fret
Mute the D string
Let the high E string play without pressing any fret
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 1 of the B string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 2 of the G string

Position 12 Barre Open

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Let the A string play without pressing any fret
Mute the D string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 5 of the G, B and high E strings at the same time

Position 13 Open

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Let the A string play without pressing any fret
Mute the B string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 7 of the D string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 8 of the high E string
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 9 of the G string

Position 14 Movable

Finger Positions

Mute the A string
Mute the B string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 7 of the D string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 8 of the low E string
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 8 of the high E string
Place your pinky finger (4) on the fret 9 of the G string

Position 15 Open

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Let the A string play without pressing any fret
Mute the high E string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 9 of the G string
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 10 of the D string
Place your pinky finger (4) on the fret 10 of the B string

Position 16 Open

Finger Positions

Let the low E string play without pressing any fret
Mute the A string
Mute the D string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 8 of the high E string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 9 of the G string
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 10 of the B string

Position 17 Barre Movable

Finger Positions

Mute the A string
Mute the high E string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 5 of the low E, G and B strings at the same time
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 7 of the D string

Position 18 Barre Open

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Let the A string play without pressing any fret
Mute the high E string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 2 of the D string
Place your pinky finger (4) on the fret 5 of the G and B strings at the same time

Position 19 Open

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Mute the A string
Mute the D string
Let the high E string play without pressing any fret
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 1 of the B string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 2 of the G string

Position 20 Movable

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Mute the B string
Mute the high E string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 9 of the G string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 10 of the D string
Place your pinky finger (4) on the fret 12 of the A string

Find more shapes in our all guitar chords online library. If you prefer a printable pdf, download the Free Guitar Chords Chart Pdf

Play This Chord With Other Roots

C m | D m | E m | F m | G m | A m | B m | C#m | D#m | F#m | G#m | A#m | Abm | Bbm | Dbm | Ebm | Gbm

The A Minor Guitar Chords | Keys and Songs

The A minor chord is one first chords you should learn.

It pairs well with the C major chord, for two reasons: they are both parts of the key of C major, one of the most used key, and you can switch from one chord to the other by just moving the ring finger from the 3rd fret of the A string (C major) to the 2nd fret of the G string (A minor), back and forth.

As you can see in the following table, the A minor chord is the Submediant chord of the key of C, which is located at the 6th degree of the scale:

Key	I	ii	iii	IV	V	vi	vii
C	C	Dm	Em	F	G	Am	B dim

The key of A minor is relative to C major, so it has the same chords but in different order:

Key	i	ii	III	iv	v	VI	VII
A	Am	B dim	C	Dm	Em	F	G

A Minor Chord Progression

The A minor chord is present in the Axis of Awesome progression: C G Am F, probably the most used and over-abused chord sequence in the history of western world.

Also the Doo Wop progression (C Am F G) show an A minor chord.

There are many other progressions that use the A minor chord, check my ebook 52 Chord Progressions | Learn How To Connect Chords and Create Great Songs for a complete reference.

Other Keys That Contains The A Minor Chord

The A minor chord is present in many other keys, here below you find the most used keys:

G Major Key

Here the A minor chord is the Supertonic, because is located on the 2nd degree

Key	I	ii	iii	IV	V	vi	vii
G	G	Am	Bm	C	D	Em	F# dim

F Major Key

Here the A minor chord works as Mediant

Key	I	ii	iii	IV	V	vi	vii
F	F	Gm	Am	Bb	C	Dm	E dim

E Minor Key

In the E minor key, the A minor chord works as Subdominant.

Key	i	ii	III	iv	v	VI	VII
E	Em	F# dim	G	Am	Bm	C	D

D Minor Key

In D minor Key, the A Minor Key has the role of dominant, notice how it well resolves to the root (D)

Key	i	ii	III	iv	v	VI	VII
D	Dm	E dim	F	Gm	Am	Bb	C

Songs with the A minor chord

On guitar, probably it is impossible to find a song that does not have an A minor chord somewhere.

Here's a quick list of songs that begins with an A minor chord:

Stairway to Heaven
House of the Rising Sun
Californication
The Unforgiven
Losing my Religion
Still got the Blues
Breaking the Law
Angie

This easy guitar songs list will show you more tunes.

Ok, be sure to master this chord really well because you'll encounter it many times in your guitar life. To learn anything you need about guitar chords, check my Chords Domination | Play Any Chord You Want Across All The Fretboard.

Want to Learn Everything About Chords?

Check Chords Domination out: a unique ebook that shows you finger positions, note names and intervals in the chords (plus a tones fretboard maps)

You'll learn how to play 44 chords types across all the fretboard, with many voicings and fingerings

In the ebook you can also find maps show you the tones in a chord all along the fretboard. They are incredibly helpful because allow you to:

Create new voicings on the fly, across all the neck
Improvise targeting the right notes
Unlock the fretboard and expand the CAGED system.

In the new ebook, Chords Domination, you'll find the fretboard tones maps for 44 different qualities of chords. Check it out:

Download Free Excerpt Learn More Here

Created by

Giancarlo Facoetti

Giancarlo is a musician (teaching guitar since 2000), software engineer, AI consultant and published researcher

FAQ

What notes are in Am?

A, C and E. All three are natural notes: the root, a minor third and a perfect fifth.

In which keys is A minor a chord?

Am is the vi chord in C major, the ii chord in G major and the iii chord in F major. It is the i chord in A minor.

How many voicings of Am can you play on guitar?

Twenty voicings in all, twelve of them using open strings and eight using a barre. They run from fret 1 to fret 12.

What is the difference between Am and A major?

A major is A, C# and E. Am has C natural instead of C#, a minor third rather than a major third.

Which scale fits A minor?

The A minor scale: A, B, C, D, E, F and G. It has all three notes of Am and no sharps or flats.