Learn to Play the A minor Chord on Ukulele

This lesson introduces you to your very first minor chord: the A minor chord on ukulele. The A minor chord is a very easy chord because it only requires one finger! If you have already learned the C chord, the F chord, and the G chord, the A minor chord is a great next chord to learn. In fact, those four chords make up an important chord progression. Go here to learn more about how to take these four easy beginner chords and play tons of different songs!

Open A minor chord in first position

How to play an easy A minor Chord

The A minor chord is the easiest minor chord to play on the ukulele because it only takes one finger to play.

Place your second finger on the second fret of the fourth string and let all the other strings be open. Strum through all four strings with the flesh of your thumb. That’s it!

Notes of the Easy A minor chord on ukulele

The notes of the A minor chord are A-C-E. The easy version above has the following four notes: A-C-E-A. It’s still an A minor chord, but has an extra A on top. In fact, some of the versions we’ll look at below might have notes out of order (like C-E-A-C). But as long as they have those three notes (A-C-E) they are A minor chords.

But the cool thing about the A minor chord is that three out of the open four strings on the ukulele are part of this chord: G-C-E-A. And in fact, the “G” is a note in a common variant of the A minor chord, A minor 7 (usually written Am7). That means we can use lots of open strings, which makes our life a bit easier.

So let’s look at other shapes across the neck below, some a bit more complex, and many using open strings.

Other A minor Chords on Ukulele

So here are three super easy ways to play an A minor chord. Each of the three of them only use one finger and three open strings!

Let’s go back over our open, first-position A minor chord again: second finger plays the second fret of the fourth string. Everything else is open.

The second variant of this is up at the fifth fret. Here place your first finger on the fifth fret of the fourth string. Again, let all the other strings ring open.

Finally, place your first finger on the fourth string, but this time on the ninth fret, while all other strings ring open.

Open A minor chord in first position
Open A minor chord at the fifth fret
Open A minor chord at the ninth fret

What else can we do with open strings?

Ready for more? Below are three more A minor chords that combine fingers with open strings. Any time we can use open strings, that gives us fewer fingers to fret, and that’s just easier on the left hand.

First position A minor chord with two fretted notes and two open strings
A minor chord at the fourth fret with the fingering 2-1-0-0
A minor chord at the eighth fret with two fretted notes and two open strings

Let’s make this a bit more challenging

But there are also a lot of other A minor chords that use different shapes we can move across the fingerboard. These chords are a little more challenging because they require more fingers. But they add a lot more color and depth, so they’re worth learning.

Open A minor chord with the fingering 1-3-0-2
A minor chord at the second fret with the fingering 1-3-4-2
A minor chord at the seventh fret with the fingering 3-4-2-1

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We hope this introduction to the A minor chord on ukulele has helped you get more familiar with this essential ukulele chord. But this is just the tip of the iceberg! Go here to learn easy three-finger chords you can move all over the fingerboard.