Originally Posted by: khughes44... you don't play any of the fretted notes in E minor, so why do we play E-minor? I think I am missing something simple. Any ideas?

The notes of an E minor chord just happen to be on open strings. You can double some of them on fretted strings as well, so they are included for future practice & reference.

If there's more to it I'm sure Lisa can tell you! Hope this helps. Have fun!