Why Minor 6th Chords Are Confusing And How To Use Them Correctly

[00:00:00]Getting right to it, minor 6-chords, very confusing for beginners. I was also confused. I think I probably actually taught a bunch of people this incorrectly >> [laughter] >> when I first started out. A minor 6-chord is a minor chord >> [music] >> with a major 6. And that has a very distinct >> [music] >> almost ominous sound. So, they're very, very useful. Uh one of my favorite chords, actually. You'll grow to love them. We're going to talk about how to build them, where you can use them, and all of the above. So, we're going to start with A, A minor 6. I really think that the most common chord voicing I use for minor 6 looks like this.

[00:00:38]I think it's very easy, uh especially if you're familiar with like a G major chord shape. Uh it kind of really lends itself >> [music] >> to getting in there very quickly. I would say it's actually a beginner chord from a difficulty standpoint, but also maybe a little more advanced from kind of like understanding where to use it.

[00:00:54]So, let's get right into it. Your middle finger's grabbing the root note, [music] fifth fret, on the low E string. We're going to skip the A string, even though we can play it open for this one, but I want to make this a movable chord shape, so you're not just learning A minor 6.

[00:01:07]You're learning 12 different minor 6-chords. So, we'll get into all right.

[00:01:11]So, middle finger, fifth fret, on low E string.

[00:01:14]Pointer finger, fourth fret, on the D string. Ring finger and pinky, we can bunch them together on the fifth fret of the G and the B strings. Okay? So, this is the first chord voicing >> [music] >> I learned for A minor 6-chord.

[00:01:30]Okay, very similar to A minor 7-chord where it's just all in line.

[00:01:36]Okay? Now, the confusing part about it is it's a minor chord, right? Chords are generally of two classes. It's either a major chord or a minor chord. So, usually you would think that, all right, we're playing with a minor chord, we'll take notes from the minor scale to kind of flesh it out. Wrong. You're wrong because from the naming standpoint, we build everything from the major scale.

[00:01:59]So, let's look at the A major scale real quick.

[00:02:03]>> [music] >> I'm going to just rifle through the theory as fast as I can because some people are really bored by it. I think it's actually pretty fascinating. So, here's the A major scale. A B C sharp D E F sharp G sharp A. 5 7 4 5 7 4 6 7, okay? So, if we were to make a major chord, we just go 1 3 5. A C sharp B.

[00:02:26]If you wanted to make a major 6 chord, we go 1 3 [music] 5 6. Major 7 1 3 5 7.

[00:02:33]So on and so forth, right? Now, if we're actually going to build a minor chord, you may have seen the A minor scale looks like this.

[00:02:41]>> [music] >> 5 7 8 5 7 8 5 7. And if we're going to build an A minor chord, we go 1 3 5.

[00:02:49]Minor 7 1 3 5 7. Minor 6 1 3 5 6. Wrong, okay? Because building, spelling a minor chord is actually still made from the major scale. It's actually a 1 a flat 3 a 5 and then a major 6.

[00:03:08]Okay? So, we're actually taking the 6 note from the major scale even though we're putting it on top of a minor chord. So, if you still kept with me, easiest way to do this is play A minor.

[00:03:20]In the very [music] first Mel Bay book chord chart, A minor is open A 2 D 2 G 1 B open E.

[00:03:27]And then we're going to add an F sharp second fret on the high string.

[00:03:32]And right there, there's some spice there, right? Woo!

[00:03:37]Especially if you kind of add it to maybe a very traditional chord thing.

[00:03:40]Let's do something in the key of G like a G to an E minor >> [music] >> to a C major to an A minor, >> [music] >> That is such a vanilla chord progression. Nothing wrong with it, but there's no spice, [music] right?

[00:04:00]You're just kind of at Panera. But then when you get [music and singing] here, you've gone to the Indian cuisine buffet.

[00:04:08]And there's some spice.

[00:04:11]I love it.

[00:04:13]Okay, so what we can do is we can use this as the two chord in any key, okay?

[00:04:19]So in the key of G where G is one, G major, [music] A is the second note, uh G major is the first chord, A minor is the second chord.

[00:04:29]You can already tell following a G with it gives us license to use that F sharp, which again in relation to A minor is the major sixth. But we're not really thinking in A's key because A is playing a role in >> [music] >> G's key. Hopefully that makes sense. If it doesn't, don't worry about it. Let's just memorize some chord voicings.

[00:04:51]>> [music] >> And then we can kind of just run through a bunch of different ones, all right? So even though I think this is the easiest conceptual [music] chord, adding your pinky on there, I actually don't love this chord progression. I feel like my hand is really bunched up right here. [music] I so much prefer this one.

[00:05:10]There's just like a touch of class to this one, right? Now, [music] the cool thing about this actually, and even though open A can help us out, >> [music] >> what's even more helpful I think is thinking of the low E strings and the high E strings as being our best friends. The same note on the low string is the same fret on the high string. So let's actually remove the bass note here and let's do this.

[00:05:36]>> [music] >> Okay, so now I've got 4 D and then 5 5 5.

[00:05:42]>> [music] >> And again, there's something about getting the root note on top.

[00:05:49]>> [music] >> The resolve CG. Okay, let's do that same progression. G E minor [music] to C.

[00:06:02]Okay? And again, that is just a very kind of shoehorned in example of this.

[00:06:06]But, think of using this chord or this chord or this chord >> [music] >> as a replacement for A minor anywhere in the key of G and you are golden. You are good to go. I'm going to teach one more chord voicing and then we're going to start moving around and putting these in places they're not supposed to go, okay?

[00:06:24]Now, I think one of the first things that I remember learning is turning minor chords into minor seven chords, okay? Again, with A minor, you just [music] open up your ring finger and then you add that minor seven and you get a a saucier chord, right?

[00:06:41]I think one thing that I like to do a lot, uh is let's say like D minor.

[00:06:45]Right here? [music] Good spot, middle of the neck. Again, middle four strings are 5 7 7 6. You can just open up your pinky. [music] And then you got that cool little hammer-on thing.

[00:06:58]>> [music] >> Maybe a lot of you have tried. Maybe not. If you haven't, try it out. It's great. Any minor chord works.

[00:07:11]Now, the cool thing about this is if you move this down a string, lo and behold, there is yet another minor six chord voicing, okay?

[00:07:24]So, we just have to talk about where uh it actually is. What I always think of is octaving down from the root note that you want. So, remember when we started with this A minor six [music] right there, our octave, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7, 8 would be the seventh fret >> [music] >> on the D string, okay? So, now just do that little that minor [music] seven chord move and you're actually giving yourself a minor six. And this is what I think is very important about learning stuff all over the guitar is applying certain moves to different locations is almost like a shortcut in learning stuff, right? Because just saying that sentence sounds so bad. Just do the minor seven thing and then you have [music] a minor six. But hopefully at some point that makes sense to you because I think that actually is a better way to learn different chord voicings instead of being like, all right, what are my notes here? This is an A, this is an E, what is this? There right there, there's my F sharp and then I'll get the C on top. [music] So, it's really a one five major six flat three which again, all that is true and some people actually learn better that way. I [music] think of doing the minor seven thing rooted on the D string where my root note is.

[00:08:43]>> [music] >> And that's a different minor six chord voicing, okay?

[00:08:51]Now, what I really like about having these higher voicings is I feel when you eliminate the bass note having so much pull and importance over the sonic frequency of the chord which again, right there, that's a cool thing [music] to do. It sounds great, but when you bring it high, now the bass note is on top.

[00:09:11]>> [music] >> I think now this actually opens up a little more a little more room, a little more creative freedom to use this in places that they're not supposed to go, okay?

[00:09:20]So, before I said that the minor six chord only exists on the two chord in any key. Now, you can actually turn any minor chord into a minor six chord.

[00:09:28]There's no law against it. You're not going to go to music theory jail, but let's just kind of see how it would sound if we did it on the two and the three chord in a in a key, okay?

[00:09:36]So, one of my favorite keys is key of F major. G and A are the other minor chords in there. 1 2 3 4 5 6. We can go to the D minor, too, if you want. But, let's just do something minor 60 over an F major, A minor, G minor chord progression, right? So, if I go F >> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> I just turned all of the minor chords right there into minor six chords, okay?

[00:10:23]And all I have to think about is where my root note is, again. G is a minor chord in F. A is a minor chord in F. And D is a minor chord in F. So, 3 5 and 10 on the high string. And then I can just put that little shape right there.

[00:10:39]>> [music] >> Sometimes it's actually easier to use your pointer finger and your middle finger. But, something I almost feel like there's something so classical about using just two fingers apart to kind of do that right there.

[00:10:50]>> [music] >> All right? But, there's some cool like sonic stuff to explore from just doing that.

[00:10:55]Oh, wrong one.

[00:11:04]>> [music] >> G A D How are you doing?

[00:11:20]>> [music] >> And then what I did there is I just did my minor seven and then added the major six right there. So, the last thing I want to talk about before you explore minor six on your own time. Uh is really if you're rooting >> [music] >> a minor chord on the A string kind of like you do with A up here, but in a bar chord, a movable way, you just use your pinky, [music] get it out of there. That makes it a minor seven.

[00:11:47]Slap it on the high E string >> [music] >> two frets higher than the root, and there is your minor six. So, even though we're kind of like making it a minor six seven, it's uh it's kind of a cool [music and singing] sound to inflect a chord, right? Because if you're just jamming on minor six chords all by themselves, it just kind of is like it has [music] kind of an uncomfortable feeling, right?

[00:12:23]It's [music] like take this chord progression home at some point. In fact, one of my favorite things to do when I was playing live, if I was playing any minor song, I would always end it on a minor six chord because it would just leave everybody feeling awful.

[00:12:36]Because I'm a hater, apparently, and I in my younger days found that something funny to do at a restaurant bar gig.

[00:12:44]Don't take that as advice. It's just something I would do. So, if it was like A minor E C [music] D A [music] minor E minor C >> [music] >> D >> [laughter] >> Why do people ever have me back?

[00:13:12]I don't know. Anyways, minor six chord voicings, guys. Hopefully, that relieved some of the mystery behind all of it.

[00:13:19]And why we use the major six really is more of just like a naming device than anything, but it works. It just works, guys. Also, this is a Gibson dreadnought I'm selling on Sweetwater Gear Exchange if you guys are interested. This is really like a pretty mint condition thing. The only thing that I even said is like there's like a tiny thing on the back where like the lacquer didn't finish with the Gibson factory. But, this is an awesome awesome Gibson guitar that'll have for sale because I never play it, but it sounds great.

[00:13:49]I'm just so closely associated with Martin and I have a a signature Martin and stuff like that.

[00:13:53]I feel like I never break the Gibson out, but this is awesome. Link at Sweetwater Gear Exchange in the description. Let me know if you guys have any questions or comments. Talk to you. I'll see you.