An E major chord is made up of three different notes: E is the root note, B is the perfect 5th, and G# is the major 3rd. In this guitar lesson you will learn the E guitar chord in several different places along the guitar neck:

First we begin this guitar lesson with an E major open chord shape:

This chord diagram shows the fingers index (1), middle (2) and ring (3) holding down this chord, but it can also be played using the pinky, ring and middle fingers as shown in the video. This is called an open chord because it contains several strings that are not fretted (played open), which gives this particular E major voicing a full and lush sound.

Next, you’ll learn a “D shaped” E major chord which is played on the G B and e strings. After this we’ll take a look at an E barre chord beginning at the 7th fret of the A string, using your ring finger to hold down the D G and B strings at the 9th fret. To finish off we examine the 12th fret position E major barre chord and octave shapes.

E major octave chord shape:

E major barre chord:

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