How to Build a Minor Chord on Guitar

You may already know how to play some minor chords (E minor, A minor, etc.) where the fingering isn't that complicated. Doing chord building shows you what notes actually go into those chords and improve your music theory knowledge. You can play the minor chords "open" (with open strings) or "barred" (with a finger across the entire fretboard) but the notes that go into the chord remain the same. The minor chord includes variations of the first, third and fifth scale notes.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. Lay out your major chromatic scale (on paper or in your head). This is the classic "do re mi..." scale, and has seven notes, or eight including the octave. For the key of C, it goes like this: C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. The key of C is easy because there are no sharp or flat scale notes in the major scale.

2. Select your first scale note. The first scale note is the note the key is "named" after, so for the key of C, it's the low C note, the first one in the sequence. You'll be adding this note to your major chord.

3. Find your third scale note. The process is easy, once you've drawn out your chromatic scale. Skip two notes up and select the third note in the scale, in this case, E.

4. Flat your third scale note. To make a major chord into a minor one, you're taking this note, in this case the E, and selecting the note just below it, in this case D#. So, instead of putting E into your chord, you're building it with D#.

5. Find the fifth scale note. Again, you just want to count your scale notes from the left and select your fifth one; in this case, it's a G.

6. Take these three notes, C, D# and G, and add them to your fretboard. It's okay if the notes repeat themselves, in fact, you'll need to repeat them if you want to play a full chord on all six strings. Take care not to include any extra notes, they will change the sound of the chord.

Tips & Warnings

• To hear the difference between the major and minor chord, play both of them back to back. You'll hear the minor sound that you make when you flat the third scale note.

Resources

• Great Major Scale Tutorial.