Guitar For Kids -- The E Chord

Greetings gang!

Greetings gang!

Now it's time to talk about what the E chord is all about.

Foist of all, we know it's a major chord because it doesn't say that it's minor. Yeah, that's right. If a basic chord doesn't announce itself as minor, you can assume that it's major. A minor chord has a small "m' after the letter name, or it will say "minor". Seeing as how neither one is used here, we know this suckah is a major chord.

We know that the formula for a major chord is:

R + M3 + m3 (M3 = 4 half-steps and m3 = 3 half-steps)

So let's find out what the notes are in the E chord.

Well, we know the root -- right? It's E

So now what? Get the major 3rd up from that. That will be G#. Note -- NOT Ab, but G#

E F G A B C D E

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

E=1 an G=3. So it has to be a G something.... either sharp or flat. The chromatic scale will tell ya which one.

A A#/Bb B C C#/Db D D#/Eb E F F#/Gb G G#/Ab A

Okay, so the M3 = G#. Now we need a m3 up from that to get the 5th of the chord. What do ya think it is?

Answer: B

So the E chord is E G# B. Just those three notes. If it has any other notes, it won't be an E chord anymore -- it'll be an E "something".

Let's look at the chord fingering to see how the notes play out. The high "E" is on the right.

[ 0 2 2 1 0 0 ]

The 1st string is an open E, and the 2nd string is an open B. So far so good.

The 3rd string has the 1st finger on the 1st fret. This is a G#.

The 4th string has the 3rd finger on the 2nd fret. This is an E.

The 5th string has the 2nd finger on the 2nd fret. This is a B.

The open 6th string is another E.

So..... From high to low the notes for this puppy are:

E B G# E B E

It doesn't matter how many notes gets repeated, just as long as the only notes are E, G#, and B. There are other ways to play an E chord, but they will still have only E, G#, and..... B. This is the definition of an E chord.

Memorize and understand this, ya'll hear?

Professor Bruno Noteworthy

by: Professor Bruno Noteworthy: Toon Music Professor

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