A Minor Guitar Chord

Do you know how to play an A minor chord (Am) on guitar? A minor chords can be played in several different positions on the fret board, and this video lesson covers both the open Am guitar chord as well as the Am bar chord shapes found further up the guitar neck:

There are three notes in an Am chord: the root note is an A, the perfect 5th is an E, and the minor 3rd is a C. This chord guitar lesson begins with the open A minor chord, which begins with an open A string, with the second frets of the D an G strings fretted (E and A notes, respectively) and the first fret of the B string fretted (a C note), plus an open e string:

Am open chord guitar

Next, we go to the 5th fret of the E string (an A note) to learn an Am bar chord. This involves using your pinky and ring fingers to fret the 7th frets of the A and D strings and barring with your index finger along the 5th frets of the rest of the strings:

A minor barre chord 5th fret

Finally, this Am guitar chord lesson finishes of with an open position octave shape barre chord beginning at the 12th fret location:

A minor bar chord

This can be a tight chord to hold in this position, and if you have big fingers they might get squished, but it does sound nice when you can play it right!

Jimi Hendrix Chord – E7#9 Guitar Chord Lesson

The E7#9 guitar chord was the main sound of Jimi Hendrix. Songs such as Purple Haze and Voodoo Child feature this chord well, and nearly all his songs feature this chord shape in some key, usually played as a thumbed chord! Check it out:

The notes in an E7#9 chord are E (root note), G# (major 3rd), D (dominant 7th) and G (#9). First you’ll learn the main shape played at the 7th fret, starting at the A string:
Jimi Hendrix chord

Of course, the low and high E strings can be included for this E chord, since they are the root notes! However, the video shows that this doesn’t work well when you move this shape around and out of the key of E! Next, you will learn this 7#9 chord with a root note on the E string, starting in the key of G and then moving the shape up into the key of A. These chord shapes are a great way to add a funky sound to your playing when you strum the high notes with an accent, as shown in the tutorial.

G7#9 guitar chord:
G7#9 guitar chord
A7#9 guitar chord:
A7#9 guitar chord

The main challenge with playing these type of guitar chords is to be able to reach your pinky finger to the B and e strings, while holding the lower octave shape with your thumb and ring fingers. The final shape we learn is the open variation of this thumbed chord, in the key of E of course!

E7#9 open chord:
E7#9 open chord

So have fun playing these chords and remember to add that funky psychedelic sound by trying picking variations of playing the lower octave parts, followed by quick stabs from the high strings, which are containing your #9 and dom7 notes! You can also get a free chord book when you sign up here!