E Major Chord on Guitar, Piano and Ukulele – How to Play it

The E major chord is built from a root note (E), a major third (G#), and a perfect fifth (B):

E chord [Musical explanation]

The E major chord is a major triad with formula 1 – 3 – 5. Therefore, to build it we need E (1), G# (3) and B (5):

This is due to the fact that a major chord is made up of 2 third intervals:

If we apply this principle to the E chord we obtain that:

Thus, this confirms that the E major chord is defined by:

Root (E) – Major Third (G#) – Perfect Fifth (B)

E Guitar Chord

The E major chord guitar has the following shape on the fretboard:

Let’s analyze in detail this chord diagram above to make sure that we understand how to play the E on guitar:

Let’s start by analyzing the 3 circles in blue, which indicate that on the strings 5 (A), 4 (D) and 3 (G) we have to place the fingers 2 (middle), 3 (ring finger) and 1 (index).

Note by the way the number 1 in black on the left that indicates on which fret we start playing the chord.

On the other hand, at the top we see that we have the characters:

E B E G# B E

This simply means that in the:

And at the bottom we find the numbers:

1  5  1  3 5 1

This indicates that in the:

⚠️ Important: it is not mandatory to memorize all this information to play the E chord on guitar. But it is highly recommended to know it in order to understand the musical theory behind each chord.

Other ways to play the E guitar chord

In addition to the diagram shown at the beginning of the article, we can also find the E chord in the following fretboard positions:

E major triad chords and inversions

Triads

First Inversion (E/G#)

Second Inversion (E/B)

What chords are in E major?

The E major scale harmonized results on the following chords:

E (I) – F#m (ii) – G#m (iii) – A (IV) – B (V) – C#m (vi) – D#º (viiº)

A very good chord to practice with E is the B chord, since it is the fifth chord in the progression and the dominant.

E Ukulele Chord

Here you can see as well two ways to play the E chord on the uke:

E Piano Chord

To play the E chord on piano we only need to find the same music notes on its keys:

Music scales in which the B major chord can be found

• B major scale (harmonized with triads)
  • B D♭m E♭m E G♭ A♭m B♭dim
• A major scale (harmonized with triads)
  • A Bm D♭m D E G♭m A♭dim
• E major scale (harmonized with triads)
  • E G♭m A♭m A B D♭ m E♭dim
• G# minor natural scale (harmonized with triads)
  • G#m A#dim B C#m D#m E F#
• F# natural minor scale (harmonized with triads)
  • F#m G#dim A Bm C#m D E
• C# natural minor scale (harmonized with triads)
  • C#m D#dim E F#m G#m A B
• A harmonic minor scale (harmonized with triads)
  • Am Bdim Caug Dm E F A♭dim
• G# harmonic minor scale (harmonized with triads)
  • G#m A#dim Baug C#m D# E Gdim
• B natural minor scale (harmonized with triads)
  • Bm D♭m Daug E G♭ A♭dim B♭dim
• A natural minor scale (harmonized with triads)
  • Am Bm Caug D E G♭dim A♭dim

E Major Chord PDF

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