Guitar Tricks Online Guitar Lessons

Root On Low E

 

Now let's check out how to adapt our finger picking pattern to work with chords have the root note on the low E string, like E minor and G major for example.

A minor and C major both have their root note on the A string, so that's where we had our thumb. Now for E minor and G major we have our root note on the low E string. Now you're free to choose any of the remaining 5 notes for your index and middle finger, and they'll all sound good in different ways. Let's take a moment to explore all the options.

Anders Mouridsen
Instructor Anders Mouridsen
Tutorial:
Intro To Fingerpicking
Styles:
Any Style
Difficulty:
print notation download lesson open guitar tuner
Root On Low E song notation

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Questions & Answers

2 months ago
Hello! Great lesson, just a thought though. If you do an E minor chord and play the strings E, G and B. Do you really have to do any chord with your left hand at all since your not actually touching the A and D string which the E minor chord is?
Mike Olekshy 2 months ago

Hello - thanks so much for your question! Technically - no you do not have to. But it's good practice to form the chord anyways. That way, if you happen to pick the wrong string, at least it won't jump out as a mistake, as you'll be picking a note that is in the chord. Hope this helps!!