Am — A minor chord
Root, minor third and perfect fifth. One semitone lower than the major third.
- 1 = A
- b3 = C
- 5 = E
- Symbol
- Am
- Root
- A
- Quality
- Minor
- Family
- triad
- Notes
- A C E
- Degree formula
1 b3 5- Semitones from the root
0 3 7- Distinct pitch classes
- 3
- Interval structure
- Stacked from the root: 3 semitones, 4 semitones
- Notation
- Written with a lower-case m after the root, for example Cm.
- Key
- A · A major / F# minor key signature
Formula
The chord tones in order from the root, with the interval each one forms above it.
| Degree | Note | Semitones | Interval from the root |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | 0 | Perfect unison |
| b3 | C | 3 | Minor third |
| 5 | E | 7 | Perfect fifth |
Inversions
An inversion is the same set of notes with a different one in the bass. The last column gives the distance of each note above the bass note, in semitones.
| Inversion | Bass note | Degree in the bass | Notes above the bass | Semitones above the bass |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| root position | A | 1 | A – C – E | 0 3 7 |
| first inversion | C | b3 | C – E – A | 0 4 9 |
| second inversion | E | 5 | E – A – C | 0 5 8 |
Playable voicings
These shapes were found by searching the fretboard of a standard-tuned guitar (E A D G B E) rather than copied from a chord book. The search allows every string to sound or to be muted, rejects any shape with a muted string between two sounding strings, rejects any shape whose fretted notes span more than four frets (a five-fret window), requires every chord tone to be present, and then sorts what remains with root-position shapes first and the most compact, lowest shapes next. The shapes shown are the first six of that ordering; other orderings are possible at the same frets.
| # | Shape (low string first) | Notes | Degrees | Bass | Span (frets) | Sounding strings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5-7-7-5-5-5 | A E A C E A | 1 5 1 b3 5 1 | A | 2 | 6 |
| 2 | 5-3-2-2-5-5 | A C E A E A | 1 b3 5 1 5 1 | A | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | 5-3-2-5-5-5 | A C E C E A | 1 b3 5 b3 5 1 | A | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 5-7-7-5-5-8 | A E A C E C | 1 5 1 b3 5 b3 | A | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | 5-3-2-2-1-5 | A C E A C A | 1 b3 5 1 b3 1 | A | 4 | 6 |
| 6 | 5-3-2-5-1-5 | A C E C C A | 1 b3 5 b3 b3 1 | A | 4 | 6 |
Shape numbers run from the lowest string to the highest, so the left-hand number is the sixth string (low E) in standard tuning. Multiple shapes are listed because a chord can be voiced several ways, and because a lower position is not always the better sounding one.
Related chords and scales
- KeyEverything in A
- ScaleA natural minor
- ChordA
- ChordAm7
- ChordAm6
- ChordC
Related
- KeyKey of A
- ScaleA natural minor
- ChordA — Major
- ChordAm7 — Minor seventh
- ChordAm6 — Minor sixth
- ChordC — Major
- ChordAaug — Augmented
- ChordAdim — Diminished