E 7 is an accessible guitar chord for beginners. To form it, place your index finger on the second (B) string’s first fret; middle finger on fifth (A) string second fret; and ring finger on fourth (E) string second fret.
An alternative way to achieve an E7 chord voicing is by adding your fourth finger to an open B7 shape in sixth position (Example 3). This movable chord voicing method has many variations.
Major Triad
E7 chord is a dominant seventh chord, commonly used in blues music. It sounds deeper than A major and can even take on more rock-sounding tones depending on your playing technique.
As with other guitar chords, an E7 chord can be played in many different ways. One easy method involves taking an open E major chord and adding an E minor seventh above it to create a darker and bluesier sound for this chord.
This E7 chord voicing is straightforward to play; simply remove your third finger from the 4th string 2nd fret on an open E major chord to form an E7 chord like this one:
Note that these triad shapes can be adjusted around the fretboard to form different types of chords. For instance, you could move a G major chord shape up onto the 5th string to form an A minor seventh chord.
Minor Triad
Minor triads contain all of the same pitches as major triads, but with one difference: its third note is lower in quality. As seen in the diagram above, C is flattened one semitone to become C in order to form this chord form. This chord style is widely used.
Just like with major triads, minor triads can also be inverted to make different chord orders; for example if you invert C minor triad, its root moves into its highest position on the fretboard.
Marvin Gaye famously used this chord form in his 1973 hit Let’s Get It On to establish a deep chord progression that allowed other elements in this masterpiece to dance around it and create an engaging and melodious song. The end result was truly inspiring!
Extended Triad
The open E chord is one of the introductory guitar chords most guitarists learn and it has become widely recognized across genres. An open E Major chord consists of an E root note, G# third note and B fifth note; with an added major seventh to round off this basic triad.
An extended chord goes beyond a standard four-note chord by including additional notes beyond the roots, third and fifth notes. Extended chords may contain up to 13 notes but the most frequently used variants include ninth, eleventh and thirteenth notes.
When creating an extended chord, it is crucial to keep in mind that its additional notes should not be played too close together to avoid dissonance. Furthermore, using spaces between chord tones that do not belong to the same scale degree allows each note to stand out more. A sus4 chord adds one fourth above its root note while an add2 adds two seconds above the third note – respectively.
Seventh Degree Triad
The seventh chord is an indispensable tool in the toolbox of any guitarist. It gives your chord progressions new depth, and here you’ll find various voicing options available to you for this chord.
Chords built on the first through sixth scale degrees are major, while those on the seventh degree are minor. A seventh chord, also referred to as a diminished chord, may be identified using “i” or “ii”, depending on whether its scale degree is major or minor, followed by either “v” or “vii”.
The dominant seventh is one of the more frequently encountered seven-note chords, as it blends the sounds of both major and minor triads. To create this chord simply take one note from a major triad and add one minor seventh (you could even add an octave for additional fullness and power); these chords are frequently found as second or third chords in 12-bar blues progressions.