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Here is something that I have been wondering about for a while:

If you strum all six strings of a guitar in standard (EADGBe) tuning what chord would you play?

I think it would be some variety of a E minor but I am not certain.

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As I have never liked this chord, I never wondered what it could be :-) – Stephane Rolland Aug 20 '12 at 0:32

9 Answers

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Well are openly strummed guitar strings even a chord? A chord denotes fretting either one fretted sting or all. These varied answers like Em11, A9sus, A11/E, Em7add11, A11, Em/D, EADGBE or E=mc2 chord just lead to confusion. If no strings are fretted it's an "open" chord (?) thus the "O" chord fretted at the nut removes all conjecture. Yes I submit it is that simple.

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Unfortunately your answer is misguided. Any collection of notes, whether fretted or not, is a chord (whether it sounds good is another matter). The strings are open in this case, but that is not a description of a chord, which is why the top answers here go into how chord names are detailed, and why context is important. – Dr Mayhem♦ Aug 19 '12 at 15:43
So strumming all six strings openly is a chord but calling it an "open" chord this is not a accurate description. No no it's much more complicated than that, why even Einstein Galileo and Newton could argue the correct name. As with all the different theoretical names such as E 7th Sharp 9th Suspended 4th A/E 9th Suspended 4th A/E 7th Suspended 2nd Suspended 4th D/E 6th Suspended 2nd Suspended 4th B/E 7th Flat 13th Sharp 9th Suspended 4th B/E 7th Sharp 9th Suspended 4th Sharp 5th B/E Minor 7th Flat 13th Double Flat 5th – Jan IV Lassen Aug 20 '12 at 13:43
Sorry I didn't see the five minute rule to edit comments. I don't mean to sound juvenile but to quantify context, octaves, inversions and how descriptive the name is makes the eyes glaze over when all we are talking about is strumming openly six guitar strings and what to call it. Now take a C chord and add in some random note(s) then there will be a matter of opinion on what to name it. – Jan IV Lassen Aug 20 '12 at 14:04
Jan, your answer would be the same whether the guitar was in standard tuning or an alternate tuning. The asker is clearly looking for the name of the chord formed by the notes that happen to be the open strings of standard tuning. An "O" for open chord is not a music theory answer, it is a playing technique answer, and it is not recognized by the discipline. Please take this to chat if there is more. – NReilingh♦ Aug 21 '12 at 3:23
At one time Galileo was perhaps the only person on earth who believed the earth revolved around the sun. Take all the myriad contorted theories on what is the chord of openly strummed guitar strings (I actually like E=mc2) or have it just "O". Yes I know there are no O notes. And further more to have a chord I say you must strum at least three strings, not just two. Just saying. P.S. Is there a Noble prize for this endeavor? – Jan IV Lassen Aug 21 '12 at 3:51
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up vote 2 down vote

It's a mantra of mine that a given chord (or chord name) only properly exists in the context of a specific chord progression.

Thus, the name you give to the chord formed by the 6 open strings of the guitar depends on what key and mode you use this chord in. It might have one name if used in the key of A major, another name if used in the key of E minor, and so forth. And thus it is with all complex chords that go beyond the basic major and minor triads.

I think guitarists get entirely too hung up on giving a name to a particular grouping of notes that are strummed together. The individual pitches are what they are, but the name of the chord depends on how those pitches are being used at the time.

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With the root E, the chord contains the 1, 3, 5, 7 and 11, making it an Em11.

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I'v always heard it called an A11. And it never occurred to me that the C# is missing. Em7(add11) seems closer to the mark.

But pragmatically, whenever I use this chord, it is as an atonal "background" accent. That is, it's the chord I play when I want something that "doesn't sound like a chord." Mostly during rhythmic strumming of muted strings; un-muting one or two beats adds just a little bit of growl using tones that are effectively "neutral" to all keys; so it works in any key.

All the chord names suggested so far fail to convey the "hollow effect" of that stack of fourths with no "character tones" (3rd and 6ths) when you emphasize just the lower strings. I'm almost tempted to describe it just as figured-bass (if only I knew the "correct" notation): E\4\7\10\12.

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up vote 12 down vote

It all depends on which chord you want it to be. With GBD, you have a strong G tendency, and with the Es, that leans E minor. With the A, That's an added 4. So EminAdd4 (not suspended, because you still have the G).

But if you want to think of it as an A, With the A and E, you have the root and the fifth. The G is a dominant 7. The B is a 9th away from that E, and the D is again a 4th. No strong major-minor tonality, which can be good.

Back to the G. I said it has the full triad for a G major, with the A (2nd) and the Es, which are the 6th, so G69. Given some time, I could create some justification for it being some sort of Bminor9, too.

I'm sure that some of that is sloppy and not quite according to Hoyle, but the greater point is that chords are made out of notes and notes can be reconstituted into different chords.

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Note that sus chords do not always lack the third. When they have it, it is generally at a higher octave than the 4. (Source: Marc Levine's "The jazz piano book".) – Gauthier Nov 8 '11 at 8:25
Such a good source. – Rein Henrichs Nov 11 '11 at 18:33
up vote 7 down vote

There appears to be a lot of differing opinion as to what this 'chord' is. A lot of these reverse chord finders seem to either find 'A11' or 'Em7add11.' According to this source, the chord is Em7add11.

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up vote 2 down vote

In the standard tuning (EADGBE) the open chord is A11/E. This means that it is an A chord, with the added 11th (D), 9th (B) and 7th (G) and an E note in the bass. A lot of chords like these are used in jazz. Also, Joe Satriani uses a lot of 11th chords in his songs.

Note, that this kind of notes for the open strings were chosen not because of the chord they create, but because it makes very easy to embellish other chords out of it.

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It's an A if you ignore the missing C#. If you consider the D the 4th it becomes an A9sus4/E or A9sus4 in 2nd inversion. No matter how you spin it it's not a normal chord, but that's how a lot of jazz chords end up on the guitar - they're kind of gutted and mutated in comparison to how they'd be played on a keyboard. – Anonymous Mar 10 '11 at 3:22
up vote 1 down vote

The chord those notes spell is A9sus, or it could be Em11.

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or it could be Em11 – Anonymous Mar 9 '11 at 8:36
@Oli - Added your Em11 comment to the answer. Is there any chance you could edit your answer using the edit button, to explain why those chords are spelt using those notes? – DRL Mar 9 '11 at 9:19
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"A9sus" needs to define what is suspended. You'll find 'sus2' and 'sus4' chords, which don't sound very close to each other so removing the ambiguity is important. – Anonymous Mar 10 '11 at 3:24
em11 is spelled e (root) - g (third) - b (fifth) - d (seventh) - f# (ninth) - a (eleventh). It's common to omit the 9th scale tone from an 11th chord, so in this case you would drop the f#, leaving e - g - b - d - a. – Anonymous Mar 11 '11 at 18:42
We got a new song at practice yesterday, and the chord chart is filled with Am11. I tried to math it out for a while, and also made due with Am7, then I thought of this question and the answers and played 5-5-5-5-5-5. – VarLogRant Apr 6 '11 at 16:41
up vote 1 down vote

Using the reverse chord finder on http://chordfind.com/ .. Chords found: Em/D or A11.

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How can it be Em/D with B and A notes and with the lowest E? – Silver Light Mar 9 '11 at 9:17
Well, B is the 5th of Em, but the A tension should be addressed, and a slash chord means that the note is the bass note. In other words: it can't. – Anonymous Mar 11 '11 at 19:41

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