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E minor chord

The three notes, the three ways to stack them and which fingers to use.

The short answer

The notes of the E minor chord are E, G and B.

On the keys

Keyboard with E, G and B markedEGB

Yellow is the root, the note the chord is named after.

On the staff

Treble and bass staves showing the E minor chord in root position: E, G and B

The E minor chord in root position. The treble clef is the right hand; the bass clef is the same chord an octave lower for the left.

Inversions

An inversion keeps the same three notes and changes which one is lowest. The E minor chord has a root position and two inversions, and all three still sound as E minor.

  1. Root positionE G Bright hand 1 3 5, left hand 5 3 1
  2. First inversionG B Eright hand 1 2 5, left hand 5 3 1
  3. Second inversionB E Gright hand 1 3 5, left hand 5 2 1

Keep going

E minor scale

The scale this chord is built on: E, F sharp, G, A, B, C and D.

G major chord

The relative major shares the same key signature as E minor.

E major chord

Same root, one note different: the third moves a semitone up.

Questions

How do you build an E minor chord?

Start on E, add the minor third (three semitones) above it, which is G, then the perfect fifth above the root (seven semitones), which is B.

How many inversions does an E minor chord have?

Two: first inversion puts G at the bottom and second inversion puts B at the bottom. With root position that makes three ways to play the same chord.

Practise E minor and the chords around it in PlayPiano, a piano practice app for iPhone and iPad.

Play it in the app