A minor chord
Home for the minor side of C: the same notes, a darker centre.
- How it sounds
- Quietly sad and completely stable. A minor is C’s relative minor, with all the same notes and none of the sunshine. The open A ringing under the shape gives it its weight.
- Where it lives
- The vi of C major and the i of A minor. It’s where a song in C goes when it turns inward. Folk, film, and a lot of Spanish and flamenco guitar.
Voicings across the neck
A, C and E are shown in three places on the neck. The open Am uses five strings, with the open A at the bottom and the open high E at the top. The Em form at the 5th fret is the full six-string barre, in the same frets as the A minor pentatonic at the 5th, so a lead line and the chord sit under one hand. The Dm form at the 7th uses only the top four.
- High E string: E at fret 0
- B string: C at fret 1
- G string: A at fret 2
- D string: E at fret 2
- A string: A at fret 0
- Low E string: not played
- High E string: A at fret 5
- B string: E at fret 5
- G string: C at fret 5
- D string: A at fret 7
- A string: E at fret 7
- Low E string: A at fret 5
- High E string: C at fret 8
- B string: A at fret 10
- G string: E at fret 9
- D string: A at fret 7
- A string: not played
- Low E string: not played
Formula
| Intervals | Notes | Semitones |
|---|---|---|
| R · m3 · P5: what each interval does in a chord | A · C · E | 3 + 4 |
A minor is a root, a minor third and a perfect fifth: A, C and E. Start on the sixth note of C major and skip every other one, and these are the three you land on, which is why Am shares two notes with C. Three then four is what makes a chord minor. Turn the gaps round and C moves up to C♯: A major.
In these keys and scales
A minor turns up in twelve scales on the site. It’s home in A minor, A harmonic minor and A melodic minor. In C major it’s the vi, the relative minor, in G major the ii and in F major the iii. On the minor side it’s the iv of E minor and the v of D minor. The two pentatonics, C major and A minor, are the same five notes started from different places. The numeral beside each scale names the job, and the name opens that scale’s page.
| Family | Scales |
|---|---|
| Major | |
| Natural minor | |
| Harmonic minor | |
| Melodic minor | |
| Pentatonic |
Progressions
In the first, A minor opens the four-chord loop from C major’s side: the same chords as I–V–vi–IV, started from the vi. The other two treat it as home. i–VII–VI–V walks down A, G, F, E, the Andalusian cadence, and stops on E major. i–iv–V lands on E major too, and its G♯ pulls back up to A.