The Em chord
Hear the Em and you hear the standard minor triad, courtesy of the minor triad spelling (E - G - B). Players use it to frame a confession, which is why it turns up across any minor-key songbook. The easiest minor chord on a guitar, and the centre of gravity for most folk-rock songbooks. Common voicings on guitar and piano, the theory in plain language, the progressions where the chord earns its place, and a list of real song references are all in the sections that follow.
Hear the Em in the chord builder →Voicings for Em
Common ways to grip the Em on guitar and piano. Guitar diagrams read low E to high E left-to-right; an × means muted, an open circle above the nut means an open string. Filled dots are fretted notes.
Guitar , full chord shapes
CAGED-derived voicings for Em across the neck. Pick the shape closest to where your hand already sits.
Guitar , triad shapes
Three-note triad shapes on each string set, shown moving up the neck. Light textures for arpeggios, pop layering and chord-melody work.
Piano voicings
Root position and inversions. The bass note matters: each inversion changes how the chord sits under a melody.
The theory behind Em
Progressions that use Em
Short progressions that put the Em to work. Each one is shown in a different key so you can pick the one that suits your singer.
The four-chord engine behind a thousand pop hits. The lift from I to V opens the chorus, vi pulls down into feeling, IV walks back toward home.
→ Build this in the chord builderThe cornerstone of every jazz standard. ii sets up the dominant, V resolves home with full gravity. Add a seventh on each chord for the canonical sound.
→ Build this in the chord builderThe classical pull. The V is borrowed from harmonic minor (a major V instead of v), creating a sharper push back to the tonic. Used in flamenco, classical and metal alike.
→ Build this in the chord builderHeroic minor four-chord. The descent from i to VI to III gives the verse weight, VII slingshots back to the tonic. The Andalusian cousin of the pop axis.
→ Build this in the chord builderSongs that feature Em
Real records where this chord does structural work. No lyrics quoted, just the title and artist so you can pull up a copy and hear it in context.
- House of the Rising Sun by The Animals. Em as the home chord of the song.
- Wonderwall by Oasis. Em as the verse-opening chord.
- Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd. Em alternates with the G in the iconic intro.
Related chords
Chords a step away from the Em in the songwriting circle, the natural neighbours when you want a substitution.
Keys where Em lives
The keys where this chord turns up diatonically. Open any key page for the full set of progressions that lean on it.
Related references
Other ways to put the Em to work across the reference library.
More songwriting tools
Got the chord but still wrestling with the lyric? Find the right rhyme in RhymeForge, or break a writer's block with the unexpected word-pair generator in CollisionLab. Need to map a full progression? The chord builder on the home page is where the Em fits into context. All free, no signup.
About the chord builder
The Undercover Zest chord progression builder is a free interactive tool that maps every diatonic and borrowed chord in every key. Click a Roman numeral to hear it, drag chords into a progression, then audition voicings, inversions and tensions until the song clicks.
This page is a static reference for the Em. For interactive playback, voice-leading hints and substitution suggestions, open the chord builder above.