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I’d never thought about why there is no minor G or C chord in the open position before, but this got me thinking about it! I worked through the notes in each chord and came to the conclusion that you can’t play G or C minor in the open position as they both have a third which falls on an open string, which you can’t lower to a flat. They also both have another third which you can lower, but if you do so it sounds horrible (as it clashes with the non-flat third). Anyone else reach this conclusion too, or is there something else I’ve missed here?
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Hi @Wrangl3r,
You’re correct there. If I want play a Gm with a fingering close to the open G, I use 3x03x3 where I mute the A and B strings.
Hello @Wrangl3r welcome to the Community.
You are spot on with your analysis and thinking - kudos and good vibes to you.
There are some awkward fingerings that can give you minor chords in open position but they are too awkward to contemplate mostly.
There are five open position major chords, A, C, D, E, G only. B and F require barre chords. Hey presto! Shake up the alphabetical order, rearrange and you have CAGED. The beautiful CAGED system.
The minor chords have a similar story - open position minor chords are Am, Dm, Em only. Bm, Cm, Fm and Gm require barre chords.
Cheers 
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide & Moderator
Yes I’d never thought about this either until today! Makes total sense now - thank you
I don’t understand why in the A chord the third is the C#, it should not be the D?
Dave
A major chord is based on the Root 3rd and 5th intervals.
In the Key of A the notes are
A B C# D E F# G#
So the notes in the A major chord are A root C# 3rd and E 5th. D is the 4th interval and therefore not part of the major chord.
Hope that helps.
I’m not understanding that there is no open Gm.
So G chord is GBD. Played GBDGBG 32ooo3. All 6 strings.
Gm is GBbD. Why isn’t Gm considered a open chord when Played GxD(Bb)DG.
Granted I play it by barring at the third fret the BbDG and muting the A string. But I play A open chord as xAEA(C#)x(or E sometimes) by just barring with whatever finger. But I assume even A played using just one finger is still considered a open chord.
If it’s not considered a open chord because of barring the top three strings, then I get it. But to me, it still feels like a open chord. The root is still the lowest note and played 1st for the Gm chord.
I guess I’m understanding a barr chord as using my index finger as a barr across all strings. I’m not doing that in my example.
Just wondering?
You could consider it an open chord. It does contain an open string, D, in that position.
It is a pretty common 7th chord shape played all up and down the neck ( fretting the D string as well, of course)…a smaller version of the full Em7 shape barre chord. I like it in alot of songs; it removes that sometimes ‘muddy’ sound that the lower 5th gives in the full barre chord. The Gm triad on the top 3 strings is pretty commonplace too.
Not that easy for beginners though, who usually start with open chords. They would need to master both muting and barring at an early stage. Plus, it doesn’t really have that big open sound that the more common open chords have in the first 3 frets. Its more of a jazz voicing.
Cheers, Shane