Is there a guitar chord lower than E minor in standard tuning?
I had a tune in my head I was trying to play and it had a G followed by a C then Em but the tune goes lower than that. I am pretty new to guitars and music in general so I am trying to keep everything as simple as I can.
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Try playing an F# on low E string,open A,open D and an A on G string only play top 4 strings not sure what you call it, but it sounds lower than E chord, I use it all the time, if you like you can finish off the D chord for a fuller sound but then it gets a different feel
Standard tuning
PS I know nothing about theory, just like this chord
I know this would not be the right answer from an expert's eye of view. But this is maybe the right answer for the questioner.
Chords can be played in many variations, because if you use only those notes found in your chord, you're technically playing the same chord, even if each note is an octave higher or lower. So you're playing a C if you're using only the notes C, E and G.
You won't find this in too many books, but I had this problem myself years ago and I do the following. I play the "lower" chord a perfect 4th deeper than the original barre chord. I don't play the original bass note and I don't play the higher notes either, because they should then be shifted and that makes it hard or impossible to play it.
So, just play the lowest 3 strings everything one string lower and miss out the lowest note. So this would be the technical description for it:
E |--n1-- E |------
B |--n2-- B |------
G |--n3-- => G |------
D |--n4-- D |--n3--
A |--n5-- A |--n4--
E |--n6-- E |--n5--
The D is a perfect 4th under the G. So I play a "lower" D for example like a G, but one string lower like this:
G "lower" D
E |--3-- E |-----
B |--3-- B |-----
G |--4-- => G |-----
D |--5-- D |--4--
A |--5-- A |--5--
E |--3-- E |--5--
The lowest note in standard tuning is an E.
However there is an open D tuning that is common called DADGAD (that's the notes the open strings are tuned too) which will get you an E flat on the first fret and a D on the open 6th string (lowest string). But now you will have to change the way you play all your chords.
You can play chords such as D in standard tuning but the root note (d) would be up an octave (on the open 4th string)
Or C with the root on the 3rd fret of the 5th string. This may let you play your song but the bass line in your head might not be exactly as you hear it.
Another option is to transpose the whole song up to a new key. Meaning the lowest note you're hearing becomes E which is the lowest note you can play in standard tuning, and all the other notes (chords) get shifted up. Example: you are hearing d major and then e minor, change that e major and f# (f sharp) minor. It will have the same harmonic properties but now will be easier to play on the guitar.
One option to get a chord that sounds like it has a root note that's lower than the low E is to use a second inversion voicing. If you put the fifth of the chord on the bottom, it implies a root note below that. Eg. D/A, C/G, Bb/F, A/E.
See this question for more detail: Is it possible to create the illusion of a sub-harmonic?
The question has some ambiguity in it. What do you mean by E and what do you mean by "lowest"? If by lowest you mean that the lowest note in the chord is E but the others can be "high", then there are several options, Emaj, Emin, E7 etc. If you assume standard tuning (and I see many answers have mentioned other tuning) and if I assume you mean that all notes need to be the lowest pitch possible I would vote for the "lowest chord" as being E-11 in the following voicing (E, A, D, G, B, E) = (1, 11 (4), b7, b3, 5, 1). But I think you may be referring to something else. Since your question title did state "standard tuning" I am sticking to this answer.
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