Two Finger Minor Chords

We’ve looked at how to form a handful of major chords with just two fingers on the mandolin, now we’ll discover how to strum some minor chords. Just like with major chords, the mandolin allows for a bunch of minor chords to be formed with only two fingers at a time.

Minor chords are the gloomy, wistful siblings to major chords. While music full of major chords is played at pool parties, drizzly coffee shops choose songs with minor chords for their ambiance. The two types of chords emit contrasting feelings. Interestingly, major and minor scales, which make up chords, are composed of the same exact notes.

For every major chord, there is a relative minor chord. This is the minor chord that goes along with the major chord. But an A major’s relative minor isn’t A minor and Gb minor’s relative major isn’t Gb. So how do we discover a note’s relative minor? Let’s turn to the circle of fifths.

The circle of fifths allows for a simple way to find a relative minor. All that’s needed to be done is to find the key’s major note (ie the 1 chord) and count clockwise three notes. Then you’ll fall on the minor. So C’s relative minor is A; G’s is E, etc.

Now we can find a major’s relative minor, lets check out how we can test if the minor really does give off a different feeling than majors. We can compare apples to apples, or in this case La Bamba’s to La Bamba’s.

Do you remember the pattern that arose from switching around the keys in La Bamba’s 1,4,5 progression? On the circle of fifths, you could find the progression by choosing the note the key is in (the 1), and then moving counter-clockwise one to establish the second chord and then starting again from the 1 chord and moving clockwise one to get the final chord of the progression. So the chords for La Bamba in C are C, F, G; in the key of G, it would be G, C, D; etc.

Those are if we play La Bamba in the typical major chord progression. How do you think we can conduct our experiment to discover if minor chords really are gloomier than major chords? We find the relative minor of the key we want to play and then do the same pattern described before with the major. We being from the relative minor, move counterclockwise one, and then starting again from the minor move clockwise one. That’s how you minorize a chord progression.

Here’s a picture to elucidate the process. We’ll minorize the key of C:

Now that we know how to minorize the 1, 4, 5 chord progression we can play La Bamba in the minor key. There are four keys that contain minor chords which only require two fingers to play.

Two-Finger Minor Chords

Here’s the chord progression which is the minor version of C, F, G. A trick to keep in mind is that each of these minor chords is the relative minor for the corresponding major chord. Am is the relative minor for C, Dm is the relative minor for the key of F, Em is the relative minor in the key of G. This will apply for all of the chords we’ll go over.

Key: A minor (relative minor of C major)

For the Am you’re going to use your index on the second fret of the D, and your ring finger on the fifth fret of the G. Dm will have your index on the first fret of the E and middle finger on the second fret of the G. Em is going to use the same technique we used for the major Bb You’ll cover both the second fret of the D string and second fret of the A string with your index, and your middle finger will go on the third fret of the E string.

Each of these chords is pretty different than the others. Take your time with them. It’s not like the C major progression where all of the chords have the same finger formation. Place your fingers in the correct locations on the fretboard, then remove them, stretch them out, and then return them to their places. Try to land your two fingers on the fretboard at the same time.

Key: B minor (relative minor of D major)

This is a fun progression – for it, you’re going to be working higher up on the neck than we’ve covered previously. The Bm and the F#m are both essentially working two frets higher than the other chords we’ve covered. For those two chords, if you were to keep the same finger formation, but move them back two frets the Bm would be an Am and the F#m would become an Em.

Here’s how to place your hand for the Bm. Position your index finger on the fourth fret of the G string and middle on the fifth fret of the A. Strum all of the strings and you’ve got a Bm! Release your fingers, shake them out and then place your fingers in the Em formation as described in the Am progression. Release, shake, then put your index on the fourth fret of the D string and your middle finger on the sixth fret of the G string. Strum and you’ve got an F#m chord.

Key: D minor (relative minor of F major)

Only one new chord in this one! The Gm chord. This one is an especially minor sounding chord. No reason it should be, but it’s more foreboding than any other minor. Maybe you’ll notice it that way too.

Strum your Dm chord just as before. After you’ve stretched out your fingers, situate your index finger on the first fret of the A string, middle on the third fret of the E string, and strum all 4 sets of strings for the Gm chord. Finally, place your fingers in the Am position to finish up the progression.

Key: E minor (relative minor of G major)

You know all of these chords now! They’re each very common chords in songs, so practicing them a lot is going to be very helpful. Why do you think these chords would be used so frequently in other songs? Think about each chord’s relative minor. Em, G major. Am, C major. Bm, D major. Each of those keys is used very frequently in music.

How does minorized La Bamba sound?

Now you know how to minorize La Bamba in four keys. With the same strumming for major La Bamba, how do the minor chords sound? It sort of sounds like an entirely different song, huh? That’s how I felt the first time I played it with all minor chords. But in order to test just how different they are, try playing the major progression followed by the minor progression.

Here’s how you could do it in C.

The first time through in major:

The second time through in minor:

How does it sound when the major and the relative minor progressions are played side by side? When I played the song this way I didn’t notice the chords being too different. The Em was what really seemed to be different than ending with the G major.

Try replacing one chord in the progression with the relative chord. Perhaps in the major 1,4,5 make the 4 the relative minor chord. How does it sound? Does it work for your ear? This is a great way to get accustomed to the new chord shapes as well as discovering the relative chords and how they work together.

Many songs do that. They don’t just use major or minor chords like in La Bamba. It’s a blend of them all. This creates a varied feeling throughout the song. Maybe in the bridge of the song, the progression will remain the same as the verses, but one of the chords will switch for the relative major or minor. Keep an eye out for this when you’re looking at chord sheets. Think about why the songwriter paired certain lyrics with a major or a minor chord. After all, you know them now!