Am Chord Guitar: How To Play A Minor Guitar Chord

Am chord guitar diagrams, chord charts and photos. Everything you need to know to play an A minor chord on your guitar.

An Am guitar chord can be played either as an open chord or as a barre chord – examples of both are provided on this page.

The symbol for an A minor chord is Am, so if you see that symbol written on sheet music, any of the A minor guitar chords on this page can be used.

Page Index

Open Am Chord Guitar Diagram - Start Here!
A minor Barre Chord 5th Fret
A minor Chord 7th Fret
Which Am guitar Chord To Use?
A minor Guitar Chord Notes

Download our awesome guitar chord ebook: Printable Guitar Chord eBook
See more open position guitar chords: Open Chords For Guitar
Learn and master barre / bar chords: Guitar Bar Chords
Learn how to read guitar chord diagrams on this page: How To Play Chords On Guitar

Open Am Guitar Chord Diagram

The open Am chord shown below is relatively easy to play. Position your fingers as shown on the diagram below.

Fingering guide: 1 = index finger, 2 = middle finger, 3 = ring finger, 4 = little finger / pinky

The "X" above the low E string on the chord diagram tells you that the string should not be played, so try to avoid it when you strum the chord.

It won’t sound terrible if you do accidentally play the open string, because the E note is part of an A minor chord. However, in general, chords sound best if the bottom note is the root note (in this case an A).

You can see this chord being played in the photo below:

When you're learning the chord, try playing each of the notes individually to make sure that the notes are fretted correctly and that your fingers aren't preventing any of the notes from ringing.

Once you've mastered the open Am guitar chord, try either of the other Am guitar chords on this page.

An A minor chord contains three notes: A, C and E. In all of the A m guitar chords on this page, one or more of these notes is repeated at a different octave in order to give the chord a "bigger" sound (see the A minor Guitar Chord Notes section, further down the page).

A minor Chord Guitar 5th Fret

The diagram below shows the second most common way of playing A minor on guitar. It uses the open Em chord shape, but played as a bar chord with the index finger positioned at the 5^th fret.

You can see this chord being played in the photo below:

Am guitar (Barre) Chord 7th Fret

The diagram below shows a way of playing A minor on guitar at the 7th fret. It's not often used, but can be useful in some circumstances.

Try not to play the bottom two strings when you strum this chord.

In this chord, you're essentially playing the standard open D minor chord two frets higher, making it an A minor chord. You can play the chord with a barre, by extending the index finger all the way over the top four strings. This would help you change quickly to other barre chords at the second fret, such as D or B minor.

Which Am Guitar Chord Shape Should I Use?

As is the case with most chords, there is more than one way of playing an Am chord on guitar.

When choosing an A minor chord shape to play, you'll usually want to select the chord that you can fret the fastest and most comfortably. This will usually be a chord in the same region of the fretboard that you're already playing in.

For example, if you need to change to Am from Em, and you’re playing the E minor chord at the 7^th fret, then in most situations the Am bar chord at the 5^th fret would be the logical choice, because it's only 2 frets away and you're already playing a barre chord.

If you happened to be playing an open Em chord before the Am chord, then the open Am chord at the top of this page would, in most cases, be the best Am to play.

A minor Chord Notes

An A minor chord contains three notes: A, C and E.

Although you could play a three-note Am chord on guitar, in most circumstances it probably wouldn't sound great. Most guitar chords, including the Am guitar chords on this page, double up at least one of the notes in a different octave. This gives the chord a much "fuller" sound.

For example, the open A minor chord at the top of this page, shown below with the notes names given, contains two A notes and two E notes; the only note that isn't repeated is the C.