E Minor Triad Chords (Piano)

The E minor triads are Em, F♯dim, G, Am, Bm, C and D: three major chords, three minor and one diminished, one on each note of the E minor scale. Together they are every chord a song in E minor can use without borrowing.

Each chord has its own section below with a keyboard that grades what you press, so the shapes can be learned here rather than guessed at. Click the sheet music to play the whole set in Chordzy.

A triad is three notes of the scale, every other one. Start on E, skip F♯, take G, skip A, take B: E, G, B, the i chord. Start on F♯ instead and the same rule gives F♯, A, C, the ii° chord.

The rule never changes, and the quality of the chord falls out of the scale. Where the first gap is two whole steps the chord is major; where it is a step and a half it is minor; the one place both gaps are small, on F♯, it is diminished. Nobody chose those qualities. They are what the E minor scale contains.

Every triad in E minor, by roman numeral. Capitals are major, lowercase is minor and the small circle is diminished (there is a longer explanation in roman numeral analysis).

The black keys in this set are F♯. A chord that contains one sits a little further into the keyboard, so let the hand move forward for it rather than reaching with the finger.

Em is E, G, B: the i chord of E minor, built on the tonic. All three are white keys.

This is home. Phrases in E minor start here more often than anywhere else and end here almost always. Right hand fingers 1, 3 and 5 on E, G, B; left hand 5, 3 and 1 on the same notes an octave down.

Press the three notes on the keyboard above, together, in any octave.

F♯dim is F♯, A, C: the ii° chord of E minor, built on the supertonic. F♯ is black, the rest white.

Diminished, so it never rests. In a minor key it is used on the way to Bm, and its top two notes, A and C, are already in Am, which is why the two chords swap so easily.

Press the three notes on the keyboard above, together, in any octave.

G is G, B, D: the III chord of E minor, built on the mediant. All three are white keys.

The relative major, G major, is inside the minor key as its III chord. A minor song that suddenly feels sunnier for two bars has usually gone here.

Press the three notes on the keyboard above, together, in any octave.

Am is A, C, E: the iv chord of E minor, built on the subdominant. All three are white keys.

The subdominant lifts away from Em without any urgency. It shares E with the tonic, so the hand only has to move two fingers, and the Em to Am to Em swing is the sound of a hymn's amen.

Press the three notes on the keyboard above, together, in any octave.

Bm is B, D, F♯: the v chord of E minor, built on the dominant. F♯ is black, the rest white.

In natural minor the v chord is minor, and its pull toward Em is mild. When composers want the pull they raise D a half step and make it B major, which is the harmonic minor's V. Both are worth knowing; this page shows the one the scale gives you.

Press the three notes on the keyboard above, together, in any octave.

C is C, E, G: the VI chord of E minor, built on the submediant. All three are white keys.

A major chord in a minor key, a whole step above the dominant. C after Bm is the deceptive cadence: the ear expects Em and gets this instead.

Press the three notes on the keyboard above, together, in any octave.

D is D, F♯, A: the VII chord of E minor, built on the subtonic. F♯ is black, the rest white.

A major chord a whole step below home. D to Em is the cadence of folk music and of most rock in a minor key, softer than a leading tone and older.

Press the three notes on the keyboard above, together, in any octave.

Chords earn their keep in sequence. These four use nothing outside E minor.

Play each one round four times, left hand on the roots, right hand on the triads, before you change anything. Then keep the right hand where it is and use inversions so it stops jumping. That one change is the difference between chord practice and playing.

Fifteen minutes, in this order.

1. Em, Am and Bm, right hand, as block chords. Say the numeral out loud as you play each one.
2. The same three in the left hand. Slower than feels necessary.
3. Add C and F♯dim. Now you have five of the seven and the two you are missing are G and D, which songs use least.
4. All seven up the scale and back down, Em F♯dim G Am Bm C D, one chord per beat.
5. Break each chord into an arpeggio, bottom to top, and the exercise turns into an accompaniment.

Then click the sheet music above to play the E minor triads in Chordzy and have every chord checked as you press it. The notes these chords are made of are on the E minor scale page, and the seventh chords are in the key of E minor.