How to Play Emaj7 Chord on Guitar
In today's lesson, we'll go over 3 distinct ways to play the E major seventh chord, also written as Emaj7 or EM7 for short.
The E major 7th chord is a major chord with a little extra sauce that helps give it a unique sound and that special sauce is where the number 7 comes from.
In this article, we'll discover common positions, voicings, and recommend finger placements, each with its chord diagram and later, we'll also discuss chord theory, how it gets its name, and how to use it, etc.
Emaj7 Guitar Chord Open Position
To play the Emaj7 chord in an open position, place your:
- Index finger on the fourth string, first fret
- Middle finger on third string, first fret
- Ring finger on fifth string, second fret
Strum all six strings and ensure you play on your fingertips so the open strings ring out.
Emaj7 played using Barre chords
The easiest E major seventh guitar chord played using a bar is as follows. Place your:
- First finger on fourth string, second fret
- Ring finger on third string, fourth fret
- Barre across strings 1 - 3 while you strum from the D string down
Emaj7 Chord Barre Chord Shape 2
This next version for E major seventh is also another common barre chord shape. To play, place your:
- First finger on 5th string, 7th fret
- Third finger on 4th string, 9th fret
- Middle finger on 3rd string, 8th fret
- Pinky on 2nd string, 9th fret and bar across strings 1 - 5
BONUS! How To Play Emaj7 Guitar Chord Without Barre
While all barre chords are moveable chords, not all moveable guitar chords are barre chords. This voicing is going to be a bit of a stretch, so make sure your thumb is in the correct position. Place your:
- Pinky on 4th string, 14th fret
- Ring on 3rd string, 13th fret
- Middle on second string, 12th fret
- First on 1st string, 11th fret
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E Major 7th Chord Theory
Now, let’s break down the theory of the Emaj7 chord so you can better understand how it's constructed and how to use it.
The E major seventh chord is a four note chord built from the E major scale: E F# G# A B C# D#
To understand the chord formula, you need to understand "scale degrees," which is simply numbering the notes of a scale starting with the root note.
Often, music teachers reference piano note names due to the simplicity of the layout of a piano for scales, but I think the illustration below will do:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
E F# G# A B C# D#
The Emaj7 Chord Formula
In music theory, chord formula refers to which notes of a scale are used to make the chord. The E major chord uses three notes, the 1 3 5 of the scale. The Emaj7 uses four notes using the 1 3 5 7 notes of the scale.
Emaj7 Guitar Chord Inversions
The notes of a chord can be in any order so long as you have at least one of each of these notes. When the root note (in this case, the E note) is the lowest sounding note or bass note it is said to be in the root position.
When the root note is not the bass note it would be called an inversion and written as a slash chord. e.g. Emaj7/B. All this means is play the Emaj7 chord but have the B note as the bass note.
How To Use E Major Seventh Chord
The E major seventh chord can be used to make a chord progression have a slightly more unique tone than just a typical progression that uses major chords and minor chords. You can also use these guitar chords for voice leading to help the music flow a bit more naturally.
For example, let’s use E and B. The notes for E major are E G# B and for B major, the notes are B D# F#. These chords already share one note (called a common tone) but if we turn E major into an e major seventh it would use notes E G# B D#, giving another common tone, making the music flow smoother.
Chord Progressions Using Emaj7 On Guitar
Instead of B E F# try B Emaj7 F#
Try E Emaj7 B C#m E Emaj7 B C#m G
What Keys Use Emaj 7th
Emaj7 works in the key of:
- E major
- B major
- C#m
- G#m
Now you know a few ways to play the Emaj7 chord and understand some Emaj7 chord theory!
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