Music Lessons, Little Rock
Chord of the week - The easiest Em, Em6, Em11, Emadd9 grip you can find!
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Welcome back to the Chord of the Week!
You've got an easy grip this week, but the theory behind it requires you be familiar with your minor triad. For a refresher, check out the Chord of the Week post on Triads.
Ok, here we go!
Everyone wiggle your index finger, good.
Next, wiggle your ring finger, good!
Now, using your index finger and ring finger, grab your trusty old power chord shape at the seventh fret of the A String. Your index finger will be on the seventh fret of the A string and your ring finger will be on the ninth fret of the D string.
Strum all six strings and you have Em.
Doesn't look like the Em your daddy showed you does it? Well, if you remember the Triad article from last week, you know that a minor triad is comprised of the Root, flat third and fifth intervals. In E, that would be E - G - B.
(hint - keep this in mind - it comes in hand further down)
Take a peek at the notes you have, both fretted and open strings. The are from low to high, E - E - B - G - B - E . If you analyze the notes, that is Root - Root - Fifth - Flat Third - Fifth - Root. everything we need for a good Em chord.
Next, keep that same grip and slide it down to the fifth fret. Strum all six strings. That is an Em11 chord. The notes, low to high are E - D - A - G - B - E, Root - Flat Seventh - Eleventh - Flat Third - Fifth - Root.
Keep the same grip, slide it down to the third fret. Strum all six strings. That is a Em6 chord. The notes, low to high are E - C - G - G - B - E, Root - Sixth - Flat Third - Flat Third - Fifth - Root.
Finally, same grip, move it down to the second fret. Strum all six strings. There you have an Emadd9. The notes, low to high are E - B - F# - G - B - E, Root - Fifth - Ninth - Flat Third - Fifth - Root.
Here are the chords in order as listed ...
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Notice two distinct elements in these chords?
First, we used a plain old power chord shape for every chord. Yep, the same power chord you've been using since you were playing Iron Man back home at your mamma's house!
Second, the E minor triad notes of E G B were always played on the top three strings in every grip.
That means we had an E minor chord on the top three strings as we moved the power chord grip up and down. The power chord grip simply gave us additional tone colors for our chords like the 6, 9 and 11.
To give you an idea on how to apply this, I've recorded an simple arpeggio sequence using the follow progression:
Em / Em11 / Em6 / Em11
Em / Em11 / Em6 / Em11 Em6 / Emadd9
Em Chord Progression
Have fun with this and above all else, dig into it and use some of this theory to find your own cool grips. Let me know what you come up with !!!
guitar "guitar lessons" "Chords" "Chord of the Week" "triads" "E minor" minor 6" 11" add 9" "Iron Man" "Power Chords" "chord grips"
Welcome back to the Chord of the Week!
You've got an easy grip this week, but the theory behind it requires you be familiar with your minor triad. For a refresher, check out the Chord of the Week post on Triads.
Ok, here we go!
Everyone wiggle your index finger, good.
Next, wiggle your ring finger, good!
Now, using your index finger and ring finger, grab your trusty old power chord shape at the seventh fret of the A String. Your index finger will be on the seventh fret of the A string and your ring finger will be on the ninth fret of the D string.
Strum all six strings and you have Em.
Doesn't look like the Em your daddy showed you does it? Well, if you remember the Triad article from last week, you know that a minor triad is comprised of the Root, flat third and fifth intervals. In E, that would be E - G - B.
(hint - keep this in mind - it comes in hand further down)
Take a peek at the notes you have, both fretted and open strings. The are from low to high, E - E - B - G - B - E . If you analyze the notes, that is Root - Root - Fifth - Flat Third - Fifth - Root. everything we need for a good Em chord.
Next, keep that same grip and slide it down to the fifth fret. Strum all six strings. That is an Em11 chord. The notes, low to high are E - D - A - G - B - E, Root - Flat Seventh - Eleventh - Flat Third - Fifth - Root.
Keep the same grip, slide it down to the third fret. Strum all six strings. That is a Em6 chord. The notes, low to high are E - C - G - G - B - E, Root - Sixth - Flat Third - Flat Third - Fifth - Root.
Finally, same grip, move it down to the second fret. Strum all six strings. There you have an Emadd9. The notes, low to high are E - B - F# - G - B - E, Root - Fifth - Ninth - Flat Third - Fifth - Root.
Here are the chords in order as listed ...
Notice two distinct elements in these chords?
First, we used a plain old power chord shape for every chord. Yep, the same power chord you've been using since you were playing Iron Man back home at your mamma's house!
Second, the E minor triad notes of E G B were always played on the top three strings in every grip.
That means we had an E minor chord on the top three strings as we moved the power chord grip up and down. The power chord grip simply gave us additional tone colors for our chords like the 6, 9 and 11.
To give you an idea on how to apply this, I've recorded an simple arpeggio sequence using the follow progression:
Em / Em11 / Em6 / Em11
Em / Em11 / Em6 / Em11 Em6 / Emadd9
Em Chord Progression
Have fun with this and above all else, dig into it and use some of this theory to find your own cool grips. Let me know what you come up with !!!
guitar "guitar lessons" "Chords" "Chord of the Week" "triads" "E minor" minor 6" 11" add 9" "Iron Man" "Power Chords" "chord grips"
Everyone should try to play this. It's a great way to get some really cool sounds out of chords that you already know. Nice job!
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