Position 1 / 4

This chord has 4 voicings across the fretboard. Use the arrows to see each shape and fingering — and tap any dot on the diagram to hear that note.

Beginner

A Minor Guitar Chord

A simple yet deeply emotional open chord. A Minor is one of the most versatile chords in any guitarist's vocabulary.

Also known as

  • Am
  • A-
  • A m
  • Amin
  • A min
  • Aminor
  • A minor

How to Play This Chord

Position your fingers on the fretboard as shown in the diagram. The vertical lines represent the strings, from low E (left) to high E (right), and the horizontal lines are the frets. Numbers inside the dots indicate which finger to use: 1 (index), 2 (middle), 3 (ring), 4 (pinky). An X means don't play that string; an O means play it open. A bar spanning multiple strings means one finger presses across all of them at once — this is known as a barre chord.

Tips & Tricks

Open Am is one of the easiest chords to play cleanly. It uses the same shape as E major shifted over one string, which makes it a great gateway to understanding chord shapes. The common mistake is letting the low E string ring — it won't ruin the chord, but muting it gives a cleaner bass sound.

There are many ways to play this chord. Try these:

eBGDAE 0 2 2 1 0 0 2 2
eBGDAE 0 1 2 2 0 0 1 2
eBGDAE 0 0 2 1 2 0 0 2
eBGDAE 0 0 1 0 2 0 1 0

See how A Minor works with other chords — Progression Generator