# 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](https://strumhold.com/chords/a-minor-7/) E minor 7 to A minor 7 [Drill](https://strumhold.app/#/drill/pair/A.min7.A~E.min7.E)
- [Em7 ↔ Dm7](https://strumhold.com/chords/d-minor-7/) E minor 7 to D minor 7 [Drill](https://strumhold.app/#/drill/pair/D.min7.D~E.min7.E)
- [Em7 ↔ Gm7](https://strumhold.com/chords/g-minor-7/) E minor 7 to G minor 7 [Drill](https://strumhold.app/#/drill/pair/E.min7.E~G.min7.G)
- [Em7 ↔ Cm7](https://strumhold.com/chords/c-minor-7/) E minor 7 to C minor 7 [Drill](https://strumhold.app/#/drill/pair/C.min7.C~E.min7.E)

## Same root, different color

- [E](https://strumhold.com/chords/e-major/), E major
- [Em](https://strumhold.com/chords/e-minor/), E minor
- [E7](https://strumhold.com/chords/e-7/), E dominant 7
- [Emaj7](https://strumhold.com/chords/e-major-7/), E major 7

## Hear yourself get faster

Strumhold listens to your guitar through your device's mic, a headset, or a line-in from your audio interface. You drill a chord change to a metronome and it scores every single change. Free, no account, works offline.

[Drill Em7 in the app](https://strumhold.app/#/drill/pair/A.min7.A~E.min7.E)