10 Epic (Minor) Blues Guitar Chords Every Guitarist Should Know

If you want to play incredible lead and rhythm guitar… then you’re going to need to know chords.

Below I’m going to share 10 Epic (Minor) Blues Guitar Chords Every Guitarist Should Know.
So grab your 6-stringer and let’s dive in, starting with…

1. Open Em

In my humble (but accurate) opinion, this is one of the greatest guitar chords of all time.

For many players, it may have even been the first chord you ever learned. Yet it sounds so good – especially if you drag your pick from the treble to the bass strings like this:

A great bluesy song that uses this Em is “I Put A Spell On You” as recorded by Creedence Clearwater Revival. The original was done by Screamin' Jay Hawkins, but it’s an AWESOME 16-bar blues:

2. Moveable Minor

This chord is the same basic idea as the open Em chord but it makes it moveable. This can be tough if players have not learned to play bar chords effortlessly yet. But once you get it down, it can open up a lot of doors.

You see this can now be played on any fret, by simply shifting the shape up and down the fretboard.

3. Moveable Minor (Root on 5th string)

Here’s another great blues chord you can use with a root on the 5th string. This means that wherever you place this chord on the neck, the note on the 5th string is the root note.
So again, if you can play effortless bar chords without aches and pains, this can become a very useable shape. I often use it in a blues as the IV chord.

4. Moveable Minor 7th

Basic triads have a great sound in the blues, but you can also expand beyond this and add more sophisticated notes to your chords. Here is an example of this:

This Bm7 is based on the 2nd chord shape we looked at. However, with this one, we are going to remove the pinkie finger and bar with the index finger. This immediately gets a jazzier sound and is useful in many contexts.
If you’ve struggled to understand chords on the neck and navigate the fretboard for rhythm and lead then get your hands on my free fretboard guide PDF right here:

5. Moveable Minor 7th (Root on 5th string)

This chord shape is similar to blues guitar chord #3, however this one removes the pinkie as well:

Removing the pinkie adds the flat seventh to the chord and evokes a jazzier quality. Another great advantage to this chord shape is when you free up the pinkie, you can play all kinds of embellishments on the chord. Jimi Hendrix was a master of this, just take a listen to his cover of “All Along The Watchtower” to hear this in action:

6. Thumb Chord Minor 7th (Root on 6th string)

Speaking of Jimi Hendrix, here is a chord shape he and Eric Clapton used all the time:

This blues guitar chord requires an advanced technique: playing with your fretting hand thumb. But bringing your fretting hand thumb over the top of the neck can create some amazing sounds. This also frees up your remaining fretting hand fingers to play all kinds of embelishments and cool riffs of the chord. A great example of this is Jimi Hendrix’s “Wind Cries Mary”:

7. The Mighty Minor 6th

Here’s an often-overlooked blues guitar chord, but it can sound beautiful, especially as an ending chord. You see, many players end songs on minor sevenths or minor chords. But ending on the minor 6 can get a real dark and authentic minor flavor.
This is a great moveable shape, and if you saw my lesson on the 12 Epic (Major) Blues Guitar Chords Every Guitarist Should Know, then you might notice this chord shape is very similar to a dominant 9 used by T-Bone Walker, Eric Clapton, and countless other blues legends.

8. The Mighty Minor 6th (Octave up)

This chord is another variation on the previous shape. If you notice the note G# in this shape it is put up the octave from the previous chord. Before it was buried in the center of the chord, here that sweet color tone is put on top like this:

9. Minor 9th (thumb chord)

As these chords progress, note how they get more and more sophisticated. This chord was used by the Allman Brothers and gets a sweet sound without sounding overly jazzy.

All right for the grand finale, this chord is a doozy...

10. m6(add9)

This one ain’t for beginners. It’s a minor 6 add 9 chord and uses 2 advanced guitar techniques:

1) Thumb over technique
2) Double-stopping

The thumb over technique we discussed above, but the double-stopping can be particularly tricky because you have to bar – without flattening your finger. Meaning you use one finger to cover multiple strings while being on the tip.

This took me many years to learn.

Conclusion:

There you have it — 10 epic (minor) blues guitar chords every guitarist should know.
If you’d like to get all these chords in one place and download the special bonus PDF I’ve created for this lesson you can get your hands on that right here:

https://www.jonmaclennan.com/bluesguitarchords

Jon MacLennan