Em in fingerstyling, is it different?
I am fairly new to guitar, and I've been learning the basic chords for a month and so now, and I came across this yesterday, when trying to learn a song.
It says it starts with an E minor, but that doesn't look like an E minor. Are chords different in finger styling?
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That's an E minor chord at the start. I don't think the contents of chords are any different in fingerstyling (though the most often used voicings very well could be).
The played notes at the very start, from bottom to top, are E-G-B-G: a match for an E minor chord. The next two notes you need to play are F♯ and E. (Treat the F♯ as a passing note.)
Most times, yes, Em open is played with just the two notes fretted on the A and D strings, 2nd fret.
However - E minor is made up from just three notes - E G and B. They could be played as a three string chord on guitar, or, could be doubled up or even tripled - which is what happens to the E notes in the chord you know. But - by losing the top E and replacing it with a top G? Well, we still have the same three notes, just a different mix! It's called a different voicing, and is quite permissable and correct - just not the one shown in most books to beginners!
An excercise I use with students is to consider the notes making up a chord, and find each one on a convenient string. When all 5 or 6 are accomodated, look at the shape. It's probably one that's very familiar! Have a try with some triads - GBD is a nice one. It'll help you understand why chord shapes are like they are on guitar.
An E min chord is just the notes (E, G, B) with possible repeated notes. There must be a dozen ways to play this, and every other chord out there, on the guitar. So, when judging what a chord is try to use the formula. Use the major scale degrees.
Major scale degrees = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) or (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13).
Major chord = (1, 3, 5)
Minor chord = (1, b3, 5)
Diminished = (1, b3, b5)
Augmented = (1, 3, #5 )
Maj 7th chord = (1, 3, 5, 7)
Dominant 7 = (1, 3, 5, b7)
Minor 7th = (1, b3, 5, b7)
etc, etc.
I suspect you're confusing chord-shapes with chords.
There may be a hundred way to play Em on the guitar. What they all have in common is the notes E,G and B. The notes may be this way up or that; they may be arpegiated or simultaneous; they may all be present or just two of them; they may be doubled or trebled. It makes no difference. In all case it is the same chord.
A chord is a fixed and definite set of notes. A chord-shape is one of many and various ways of playing those notes.
That’s an Em chord. Any chord that has the notes E, G, B is an E minor chord, and if E is the lowest note, its chord symbol is ”Em”. (If, say, G was the lowest note, it would be a so-called inversion and the chord symbol would be ”Em/G”.)
The sounding notes at the start are E, G, B and G as the high melody note.
E string open (0) : E (lowest note, bass note)
A string : not played, no note
D string : not played, no note
G string open (0) : G
B string open (0) : B
E string 3rd fret : G (melody note)
E + G + B is a basic E minor chord.
After that the melody goes down from G to F#, E.
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