Harmonic Minor Chords on Guitar

How the harmonic minor chords are built

One chord on each note of the scale,
stacking every other note: 1 3 5, then 7.

Build a chord on each note of A harmonic minor, A B C D E F G#, by taking every other note of the scale. From A you get A C E, Am; from B, B D F, Bdim; from C, C E G#, C+; and so on up to G# B D, G#dim. Add one more note and each triad becomes a seventh chord.

Three chords change compared with natural minor, all because of G#: C becomes C+, Em becomes E and G becomes G#dim. Those three chords, and above all the major V, are what the word harmonic refers to.

Harmonic minor triads on guitar

Seven triads: three minor, two major,
one augmented and two diminished.

In A the triads are Am, Bdim, C+, Dm, E, F and G#dim. The player shows each one as a single shape in the neck region you choose, muted strings and barres included, and plays it with two strums.

Start with the three chords of the cadence, Am, Dm and E, in open position. Then add F and the two diminished chords, which share notes with E7 and pull to Am the same way.

Harmonic minor seventh chords on guitar

Add the 7th and each chord gets a new colour,
from the minor-major 7th to the diminished 7th.

The seventh chords are Am(maj7), Bm7b5, Cmaj7#5, Dm7, E7, Fmaj7 and G#dim7. Switch the player to Sevenths to hear them; each shape keeps the root in the bass and reaches the B string or higher.

Two of them are rare in other keys. Am(maj7) is a minor chord with a major 7th, A C E G#, the sound of spy and film noir themes. Cmaj7#5 is an augmented chord with a major 7th. G#dim7 is symmetrical: the same shape three frets higher is the same chord with another note in the bass.

Harmonic minor cadences on guitar

Every minor key leans on these moves
to come home to the i chord.

V to i: E to Am, the perfect cadence

Play E, then Am. The G# in the E chord rises a half step to A, and the B falls or stays, so the ear hears a clear arrival. With E7 the pull is stronger, because D falls to C.

iv V i: Dm E Am, the classical cadence

The minor subdominant before the V gives the classical close found in minor-key pieces for centuries. Strum each chord for a bar and let the last Am ring.

ii° V i: Bm7b5 E7 Am, the minor ii V i

The jazz form of the same cadence. Bm7b5 shares three notes with Dm7 and leads to E7, whose G# and D resolve into the notes of Am. It is the cadence of every minor jazz standard and bossa nova.

How to practise harmonic minor chords on guitar

Shapes first, then the moves between them,
always ending on the i chord.

Learn the seven chords of A in region 1, the open position, then play the cadences above in a loop: Am Dm E Am, then Am Bdim E Am. When the changes feel easy, move the same sequence to region 3, frets 5 to 9, where the root sits on the 6th string.

Then play the scale over each chord: hold the chord with the player, and play the notes of the scale that belong to it. Over E, lean on G#; over Am, on A, C and E. That is how the chords and the scale become one sound.