Originally Posted by: stubie... I am a little confused with one of the lessons from "Acoustic Finger Picking for Begimmers 5: Lesson 5B."
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I assume you mean this lesson:
http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=12440&s_id=635
[QUOTE=stubie]As best as I can figure none of the strings associated with the Em are picked . What am I missing ?

Even though she is holding the A and D string notes, she is not playing them. I see what you mean.

However, an E minor chord consists of the notes E, G and B anywhere, in any order, on the guitar. Therefore, she is playing an E minor chord, because she is using the open strings E, G, B, and high E.

Make sense?