Forum: music.stackexchange.com
Tags: <chords><fingerstyle-guitar>
Title: Em in fingerstyling, is it different?
Question: 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?

Answers:
sents: text: That’s an Em chord.
text: 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”.
text: (If, say, G was the lowest note, it would be a so-called inversion and the chord symbol would be ”Em/G”.)
text: The sounding notes at the start are E, G, B and G as the high melody note.
text: E string open (0) : E (lowest note, bass note)
text: A string : not played, no note D string : not played,
text: no note G string open (0) : G B string open (0) :
text: B E string 3rd fret :
text: G (melody note) E + G
text: + B is a basic E minor chord.
text: After that the melody goes down from G to F#, E.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/51766/piiperi Reinstate Monica
score: 2
sents: text: Most times, yes, Em open is played with just the two notes fretted on the A and D strings, 2nd fret.
text: 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.
text: But - by losing the top E and replacing it with a top G?
text: Well, we still have the same three notes, just a different mix!
text: It's called a different voicing , and is quite permissable and correct - just not the one shown in most books to beginners!
text: An excercise I use with students is to consider the notes making up a chord, and find each one on a convenient string.
text: When all 5 or 6 are accomodated, look at the shape.
text: It's probably one that's very familiar!
text: Have a try with some triads - GBD is a nice one.
text: It'll help you understand why chord shapes are like they are on guitar.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/2808/Tim
score: 2
sents: text: I suspect you're confusing chord-shapes with chords.
text: There may be a hundred way to play Em on the guitar.
text: What they all have in common is the notes E,G and B.
text: 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.
text: It makes no difference.
text: In all case it is the same chord.
text: A chord is a fixed and definite set of notes.
text: A chord-shape is one of many and various ways of playing those notes.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/53546/PeterJ
score: 2
sents: text: That's an E minor chord at the start.
text: I don't think the contents of chords are any different in fingerstyling (though the most often used voicings very well could be).
text: The played notes at the very start, from bottom to top, are E-G-B-G: a match for an E minor chord.
text: The next two notes you need to play are F&sharp; and E. (Treat the F&sharp; as a passing note.)
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/37354/Dekkadeci
score: 1
sents: text: An E min chord is just the notes (E, G, B) with possible repeated notes.
text: There must be a dozen ways to play this, and every other chord out there, on the guitar.
text: So, when judging what a chord is try to use the formula.
text: Use the major scale degrees.
text: Major scale degrees = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) or (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13).
text: Major chord =
text: (1, 3, 5) Minor chord = (1, b3, 5) Diminished =
text: (1, b3, b5) Augmented =
text: (1, 3, #5) Maj 7th chord = (1, 3, 5, 7) Dominant 7 =
text: (1, 3, 5, b7)
text: Minor 7th = (1, b3, 5, b7) etc, etc.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/50691/ggcg
score: 1

Summary of the answers:
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”.
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”.