E Minor Triad Inversions on Guitar: 12 Shapes

Three orders of the same three notes

Root position puts E at the bottom, 1st inversion puts G at the bottom, 2nd inversion puts B at the bottom. It is still Em; what changes is the lowest and the highest note you hear.

Darker than major: the middle note of the major shape moves down one fret.

How to move between the shapes

Climbing the G-B-e strings: 1st inversion (fret 0) → 2nd inversion (fret 5) → root position (fret 9). Listen to the top note, E, G, B: it is a little melody inside one chord.

One area of the neck, near fret 7, already holds four Em shapes: G-B-e strings 4-5-3; D-G-B strings 5-4-5; A-D-G strings 7-5-4; E-A-D strings 7-7-5.

Practise Em triads in four steps

1. Start with the G-B-e strings only: three shapes, one minute each.
2. Connect the shapes up and down the G-B-e strings, four strums per shape.
3. Pick one fret area, around fret 7, and find Em on every string set without moving your hand far.
4. Then test yourself: random chord names, find the closest Em shape each time.

Learn one string set per week and in a month the whole neck is yours.