written by Scott Fritzinger, scottf@scs.unr.edu..All rights reserved
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Lesson #4-

Minor Chords (an extension of lesson #3)...

just when you thought all chords were happy...


ok... here it is... lesson #4... (didn't i say that already?)... 
anyways... this lesson works off of ideas discussed in lesson #3.. so be 
sure to have read that before attempting this... so on that note...

ok, minor chords are kind of the "opposite" of major chords... not 
because of overall finger placement and such, but rather because of the 
sound.. minor chords are used for "grim" or "sad" songs in most 
occasions... because that is the overall sound of the chord... 

now, you're thinkin' "hmmm.... they must be really quite different than 
the major chords...".. i'm glad you thought that... actually, the only 
difference (in general) is the placement of one (1) finger... i'm goin'' 
to work with them in the barre chord frame of mind because they are 
probably the easiest way to recognize/play most of the minor chords... 

from the last couple of lessons, we have recognized this to be the E 
major chord (with the make-up of the chord in parenthesis)..(the Maj 
represents "major"):

	E Maj
e       0       <--- R
b       0       <--- 5th
g       1       <--- 3rd
d       2       <--- R
a       2       <--- 5th
E       0       <--- R

now, to play an E minor, you simply lower the 3rd (which is on the 3rd 
string) one-half a step (or the equivilent of one fret)... this "new" 
note would be considered the 3rd in an E minor scale... so the G string 
still contains the 3rd... the notation for the chord would be Em 
(the lowercase m represents "minor")..so, an E minor would be:

	Em
e       0       <--- R
b       0       <--- 5th
g       0       <--- 3rd (in Em scale)
d       2       <--- R
a       2       <--- 5th
E       0       <--- R

if we take this shape, and move it up the neck, we can get other minor 
chords.. let's move it up to the 3rd fret...

	Gm
e       3
b       3
g       3
d       5
a       5
E       3       <--- R

since the root is a G, the chord would be G minor (Gm)..(remember that 
the root names the chord)... to finger this, use the suggested fingering 
in lesson #3, and simply lift the middle finger... (your finger 
strength and stamina will improve with your playing... don't worry.. that 
buzzing will go away soon)

ok... now you ask "can we do this with the A shaped barre chords?"... 
yes you can... but you need to figure out the Am chord first though, then 
move that shape up the neck...

so, using the same idea as above, here is the A Maj chord and the 
respective Am chord:

	A Maj               |           Am      
e       0       <--- 5th    |   e       0       <--- 5th
b       2       <--- 3rd    |   b       1       <--- 3rd (in minor scale)
g       2       <--- R      |   g       2       <--- R
d       2       <--- 5th    |   d       2       <--- 5th
a       0       <--- R      |   a       0       <--- R
E       x                   |   E       x

now, let's move the Am shape up to the 5th fret...remember that the root 
for the A shaped barre chords is on the 5th string... so, when we move it 
up to the 5th fret, the root would be a D... and since it is a A minor 
shape, the chord would be a D minor (Dm).. so we would have:

	Dm
e       5       
b       6
g       7
d       7
a       5       <--- R
E       x


ok... in the next lesson i will be covering scales in general... so if 
you don't understand whats goin' on when i talk about the 5th and 3rd, 
then go back to lesson #2 and look over what i have written there... if 
you are still up in the air, then you should get a nice understanding 
after the next lesson... after lesson #5 (scales in general), i will go 
into putting chords together and some frequent "chord progressions"... if 
you like Rancid (the band), then you'll love the I-IV-V blues 
progression... (you'll see what i mean)... 

until then... have fun... and practice... practice... practice...... .  
.   .     .       .        .         .          .           .            .