The Em7 Chord: Learn How To Play It The Easy Way

The Em7 chord is one of the darker, more mysterious chords in a guitarists arsenal. The flat 7 added to the already somber sounding minor chord gives it just the right twist to make your chord progression stick out.

What's really great is that it is one of the easiest chords to learn. I would say, some variations are even easier than your standard cowboy chords (like, you fret just one string and play everything else open kind of easy).

In this guitar lesson, we will go over the common forms of Em7 as well as some variations and some complementary chords to get you on your way.

How To Play The Em7 Chord

In the above diagram, you can see what is likely the easiest guitar chord to learn. To play it you simply put your:

index finger (1) on the B note of the A string at the 2nd fret
now play all over strings open
that's it
seriously, that's the chord

Variations Of The Chord

There are, of course, other voicings of Em7. We will learn about those today, as well.

For example:

This version is a little more difficult, but, as you can see, is still pretty simple to play. You just place your:

index finger (1) on the B note on the A string at the 2nd fret
middle finger (2) on the root E note on the D string at the 2nd fret
ring finger (3) on the D note on the B string at the 3rd fret
play the remaining strings open

Another variation is:

index finger (1) on the root E note on the D string at the 2nd fret
ring finger (3) on the D note on the B string at the 3rd fret
pinky finger (4) on the G note on the high e string at the 3rd fret
mute the top 2 strings and play the G string open

You can also play Em7 at various points up and down the neck using barre chords. Here is an example:

In this diagram, you play the Em7 chord while barring on the 7th fret. The proper formation for this version is with your:

index finger (1) fretting strings 5 through 1 or A, D, G, B, e along the 7th fret
middle finger (2) fretting the G note on the B string at the 8th fret
ring finger (3) fretting the B note on the D string at the 9th fret
mute the low E when strumming

The Theory Behind It

Building a minor chord is a little different than a major chord. With a major chord you simply take the I, III, and V notes of the major scale to form your major triad.

The E minor scale looks like this:

With a minor chord, you still use the same major scale but the formula is I, bIII, and V. The "b" in "bIII" means you flatten the 3rd note in your scale. So instead of using the E, G#, and B notes (that would make an E chord), you use E, G, and B for an Em.

To complicate things just a little bit more, to build a minor 7th chord, you use the formula I, bIII, V, and bVII, or E, G, B, and D. For a minor 7th chord you must flatten both the 3rd and the 7th notes in the scale.

Complementary Chords

The Em7 sounds haunting enough on its own, but it sounds even better when combined with other chords.

To build a chord progression, you simply pluck a sequence from the 7 notes available within the scale. So, for example, we will use the progression i7 - IV - vi - IV making our chord progression Em7 - A - C#m - A.

Note: lower case "i" means it's minor and the 7 denotes a 7th chord

The way you would play the above chord progression is:

A Couple Em7 Chord Variations

These are not so much variations of Em7 as they are just playing around with the E chord in general.

And if you're going to play Em7, you should probably know how to play Em, as well.

Songs That Have The Em7 Chord

Here are some popular songs across multiple genres that have an Em7 chord in them:

American Pie by Don McLean
Big Girls Don't Cry by Fergie
High by James Blunt
Mirror by Lil' Wayne ft Bruno Mars
Rocket Man by Elton John
The Woman With You by Kenny Chesney
Yesterday by The Beatles

Final Word

The Em7 is definitely one of the more interesting sounding chords and one of my personal favorites. Jam around with the chord progression above or write your own. Let us know how it goes in the comment section below.

The Em7 Chord