Em7

E1G♭3B5D♭7

Minor triad with a minor seventh. The same four notes as a major sixth chord a third above.

on guitar on piano the scale

Every fingering that fits a hand

Fig. 2

x435

easy · no 5

Fig. 3

9baa

hard

Fig. 4

97aa

hard · no 5

Fig. 5

97a7

hard · no 5

Fig. 6

97ax

easy · no 5

What is true of it

Em7 is E, G, B and D — 1, b3, 5 and b7 counted from E.

These are also the notes of G6/E. Which name is right depends on what is underneath and what came before — the notes alone do not decide.

On an instrument that cannot reach all 4, the 5 goes first, in that order.

The easiest of the 5 fingerings below is x435: 3 fingers, held at the 3rd fret.

None of them uses an open string, so this chord moves up the neck unchanged — the same shape 1 fret higher is the chord a semitone above.

It leaves out the 5. 4 strings cannot carry 4 notes, and the 5 is the one this chord can lose without changing what it is.

1 string stays silent.

Where its notes are on the neck

Fig. 7 — first 12 frets

The brass dots are E, the root. Everything else is a chord tone with its degree printed in it.

With a different note underneath

first inversion

Em7/G

0202

second inversion

Em7/B

4705

third inversion

Em7/D

7777

An inversion is the same chord with a different note lowest. The name changes to a slash name because the bass is what a listener hears as the foundation.

E in other shapes

E7dominant seventh Emaj7major seventh Em(maj7)minor major seventh Emajor Emminor Edimdiminished

Cm7 C♯m7 D♭m7 Dm7 D♯m7 E♭m7 Fm7 F♯m7 all 374