Em7 — the E minor 7 guitar chord

Em7 is the gentlest grip of these open chords: one finger, and everything else rings open in a mellow wash. You’ll hear it in ballads, or wherever plain Em feels too heavy. With a single finger doing all the work it’s easy to press too lightly. Make the note on the A string ring clean, not buzzy.

Em7

How to play it

Index finger on the A string (5th), 2nd fret.
Let the open low E string (6th), D string (4th), G string (3rd), B string (2nd) and high E string (1st) ring.

Changes to practice

Holding Em7 still is the easy part. Songs need you to arrive at it in rhythm, so in Strumhold you practice Em7 as changes, alongside the rest of the Open Minor 7ths set:

Em7 ↔ Am7 E minor 7 to A minor 7
Em7 ↔ Dm7 E minor 7 to D minor 7
Em7 ↔ Gm7 E minor 7 to G minor 7
Em7 ↔ Cm7 E minor 7 to C minor 7

How to play it

Changes to practice

Same root, different color