How to Build E Major Chords on the Guitar

In chord building, guitar players study each string to find how chord patterns fit together. Chord building also helps guitar beginners place chords on the fret board. The E major chord is an easy one because the "base" note, E, is featured on two open strings of the guitar (the lowest and highest strings). For E major, to build this chord, we're using the first or base note E, the fifth note, B, and the third note, G#.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. Leave the low E string open to get the base note, low E.

2. Put your middle finger on the second fret of the A string (second string from bottom). This is the fifth, a B note.

3. Place your ring finger on the second fret of the D string (third string from bottom). This is another E note, the second of three. The E note will be repeated three times in the open E major chord.

4. Put your index finger on the first fret of your G string (fourth from bottom). This is your G# note, your third.

5. Leave the top two strings, the B and the E, open. You have a fifth (the B note) and another base note, the high E.

Tips & Warnings

• To experiment with building other E major chords on the guitar, take the same notes and use them other places on the fret board. You can get a lot of interesting results by creating parts of an E major chord on several strings at different places on your guitar neck. This will help you understand what goes into an E major chord and enhance your music theory knowledge for future song writing or composition.