# Em, the E minor guitar chord

E minor is many players’ first chord. Two fingers, all six strings, and a big moody sound that turns up everywhere from folk to metal. The usual casualty is the open G string, muted by a lazy fretting hand. Pick the strings one at a time and make sure each rings.

Em

## How to play it

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

## Changes to practice

Holding Em still is the easy part. Songs need you to _arrive_ at it in rhythm, so in Strumhold you practice Em as changes, alongside the rest of the Open Minors set:

- [Em ↔ Am](https://strumhold.com/chords/a-minor/) E minor to A minor [Drill](https://strumhold.app/#/drill/pair/A.min.A~E.min.E)
- [Em ↔ Dm](https://strumhold.com/chords/d-minor/) E minor to D minor [Drill](https://strumhold.app/#/drill/pair/D.min.D~E.min.E)
- [Em ↔ Gm](https://strumhold.com/chords/g-minor/) E minor to G minor [Drill](https://strumhold.app/#/drill/pair/E.min.E~G.min.G)
- [Em ↔ Cm](https://strumhold.com/chords/c-minor/) E minor to C minor [Drill](https://strumhold.app/#/drill/pair/C.min.C~E.min.E)

## Same root, different color

- [E](https://strumhold.com/chords/e-major/), E major
- [E7](https://strumhold.com/chords/e-7/), E dominant 7
- [Em7](https://strumhold.com/chords/e-minor-7/), E minor 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 Em in the app](https://strumhold.app/#/drill/pair/A.min.A~E.min.E)