E Major – Advanced Guitar Chord Lesson

Learn how to play several advanced voicings of the E Major guitar chord with this free lesson.  Perhaps you arrived here by accident looking for the basic version of this chord?  Follow this link for the basic beginner E Major Guitar Chord.

Whether you are interested in playing an advanced or beginner version of this chord, both follow the same basic theory.

To form the E Major Chord we must first look at the E Major Scale.

The notes of the E Major Scale are: E F# G# A B C# D# E

So, in order to build this chord, we need to find the 1st, 3rd and 5th steps of the above E Major Scale.

When we do that we come up with the notes :  E, G# and B.

Thats all there is to it.  Pretty simple right?  The theory is rather simple, but to play these advanced voicings requires practice, patience and strength in your hands and fingers.

Take a look at the easy to understand chord charts below to learn how to play these voicings.

Here is a key that will help you read the chart:

Everything on the above chart should be self explanatory, except for the last three in the third column. They may need a bit of explaining. The O, or open symbol, simply means that you do not press down on any notes on that string. The X means you do not strum that particular string. The Barre symbol means you need to barre that particular fret. When you barre a fret you are pressing down on multiple strings at the same time with one finger.

Play each string one at a time to be sure that you are producing a clean sound. If any of the strings buzz or sound muted, then something is not right.