The Key of A Minor for Guitar

The key of A minor has the notes A B C D E F G, no sharps or flats, and its relative major is C major.

Chords
Am Bdim C Dm Em F G
Main three
Am Dm Em
Key signature of A minor
no sharps or flats

Chords in the key

Chords in A minor · tap to hear
Reading the numbers

1 home chord of the key

35 on the 3rd and 5th

2 other degrees

Now sounding

Key · Capo

Showing: A minor (page key)
Transpose

No capo: you play A minor shapes as written.

To play A minor with easy shapes:

Fretboard · A minor scale

357912EFGABCDEABCDEFGADEFGABCDGABCDEFGBCDEFGABEFGABCDE

Tap a dot to hear it; it lights amber while it sounds. Brightest dot = 1, the root (A). Lighter grey = 3 and 5. High e on top, frets 0 to 12, no capo. Swipe the board sideways for frets 7 to 12.

Progression · i–VI–III–VII

1i, bar 1AmAm chord: Open Am×231 
6VI, bar 2FF chord: Easy F (4 strings)××3211 
3III, bar 3CC chord: Open C×321 
7VII, bar 4GG chord: Open G213 
FirstAm1iAm chord: Open Am×231

Stopped. Four beats per chord, strum D D U D.

88bpm

Chords in A minor, with notes

DegreeChordNotes
iAmA C E
ii°BdimB D F
IIICC E G
ivDmD F A
vEmE G B
VIFF A C
VIIGG B D

Seventh chords in A minor

Add the next scale note a third above each triad and you get the four-note seventh chords of the key.

DegreeChordNotes
i7Am7A C E G
iiø7Bm7♭5B D F A
IIImaj7Cmaj7C E G B
iv7Dm7D F A C
v7Em7E G B D
VImaj7Fmaj7F A C E
VII7G7G B D F

Shapes for the 7th chords of A minor: E7 chord and Am7 chord.

Shapes and voicings for every chord: chord directory.

Why A minor has no sharps or flats

Every minor scale uses the same step pattern: whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole. Start that pattern on A and the notes land on A B C D E F G, so the key needs no sharps or flats. On one string a whole step is two frets and a half step is one fret, up to the octave at fret 12.

A minor scale in first position

Every note of A minor in frets 0 to 4. Play one finger per fret: fret 1 = finger 1, fret 2 = finger 2, fret 3 = finger 3, fret 4 = finger 4, open strings need no finger. Start on the lowest root, A on the 5th string, open, and play up string by string.

3EFGABCDEFGABBCDEFG

Tap a dot to hear it. High e on top; the brightest dot is the root.

Past fret 4: A minor scale in every position up the neck, with play-along and a root drone. Pentatonic, blues and the modes work over these chords too: see all guitar scales.

Playing in A minor on guitar

A minor is the natural first minor key on guitar. It has no sharps or flats, so all six open strings are notes of the scale, and Am, C, Dm, Em and G are open chords. It shares every note with C major; what changes is the home chord, Am instead of C.

F is the one barre chord. Fmaj7 (x x 3 2 1 0) keeps the open high e string ringing and fits most songs in A minor. Bdim is rare in songs. The chord row shows Em, the v of the natural minor, but many songs in A minor use E or E7 instead: the G♯ comes from the harmonic minor scale and leads up a half step to A.

Am7 (x 0 2 0 1 0) is Am with the ring finger lifted, a softer home chord for fingerpicking. The open A string under every Am shape makes alternating-bass patterns easy: pick the open A on beat 1 and the E at fret 2 of the D string on beat 3, root then fifth. The A minor pentatonic box at fret 5 is the usual first lead pattern.

Common progressions in A minor

DegreesChordsWhere you hear it
i–VI–III–VIIAm F C GAm F C G: the minor-side version of the four-chord loop, with every chord open except F.
i–iv–v–iAm Dm Em AmAm Dm Em Am: three open minor chords. Swap Em for E or E7 and the return to Am gets much stronger.
i–VII–VI–VIIAm G F GAm G F G: the stepwise rock loop, where the bass falls A, G, F on the A, low E and D strings.
i–iv–VII–IIIAm Dm G CAm Dm G C: a fifths chain that ends on C, the relative major, so it can loop into either key.

Pick one in the player above and press Play to strum along, four beats per chord.

Capo and A minor

Open Am shapes need no capo. Capo 5 with Em shapes and capo 7 with Dm shapes also sound in A minor, higher and brighter, which suits a second guitar playing over open Am.

CapoAm shapes sound in
Fret 1B♭ minor
Fret 2B minor
Fret 3C minor
Fret 4C♯ minor
Fret 5D minor
Fret 6E♭ minor
Fret 7E minor

Song in another key? Capo for A minor songs: the capo fret and easier shapes, or any other key.

New to the capo? How to use a capo: where to clamp it and why the same shapes sound in a new key.

Relative major: C major

C major uses the same seven notes, starting on C, the 3rd note of the scale. Its chord is the III in the row above. Songs often move between the two keys without changing a single chord shape.

Songs in A minor

  • Stairway to Heaven · Led Zeppelin
  • Losing My Religion · R.E.M.

Both are recorded in A minor. Play along with open Am shapes and no capo.

Have a recording and no idea what key it is in? Find the key of a song from the audio file or by letting it listen; it also gives the chords to play and the easiest capo.

Related keys

See how every key connects: interactive circle of fifths.

FAQ about A minor

What chords are in the key of A minor?

Am, Bdim, C, Dm, Em, F and G. Am (i), Dm (iv) and Em (v) are the minor core; C, F and G are the same major chords as in C major.

Why do songs in A minor use E major instead of Em?

E major contains G♯, one fret below A. That leading note pulls back to Am far more strongly than the G in Em. It comes from the A harmonic minor scale.

Does A minor have any sharps or flats?

No. Its key signature is empty, the same as C major, because the natural minor scale from A uses only the white-key notes A B C D E F G.

What is the relative major of A minor?

C major. Same seven notes and same chords; a song in C major treats C as home, a song in A minor resolves to Am.

Next steps in A minor