Guitar chord · Open shape · Standard tuning
E dominant 7 guitar chord (E7)
2 fingers, 6 strings, chart notation 020100. Tap the chord chart to hear it strummed, then arpeggio it to check every note is ringing cleanly.
All the strings in one sweep, low to high — how the chord sounds in a song.
- Strings, low to high
- E · B · D · G♯ · B · E
- Chord tones
- E R · G♯ 3 · B 5 · D b7
How to play E7
Finger numbers run 1 for the index to 4 for the little finger. String names are given as players say them — the low E is the thickest string (the 6th) and the high E is the thinnest (the 1st).
- 1st finger (index) — 1st fret, G string
- 2nd finger (middle) — 2nd fret, A string
- Play open: low E (6th), D (4th), B (2nd) and high E (1st) — strum them without fretting anything.
- Strum all six strings. Nothing is muted in this shape, so the chord should ring from the low E right through to the high E.
| String | Fret | Finger | Note it sounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6th — low E | Open | — | E |
| 5th — A | 2nd fret | 2 (middle) | B |
| 4th — D | Open | — | D |
| 3rd — G | 1st fret | 1 (index) | G♯ |
| 2nd — B | Open | — | B |
| 1st — high E | Open | — | E |
Notes and intervals in E7
E7 is built from 4 notes: E, G♯, B and D.
- E — the root (R)
- G♯ — the major 3rd (3)
- B — the perfect 5th (5)
- D — the flat 7th (b7)
Across the six strings the shape sounds E · B · D · G♯ · B · E from low to high, so some notes are doubled in different octaves — that is what gives an open guitar chord its width compared with the same chord on a keyboard.
What E7 is used for
E7 is E major with the ring finger lifted, so the open D string sounds the flat 7th. It is the V7 of A and the home chord of a blues in E, which makes this two-finger shape the workhorse of blues rhythm playing — and the open 4th string makes it ring far wider than any barred alternative.
Common mistakes with E7
- Keeping the ring finger down out of habit, which quietly turns E7 back into plain E major.
- The index finger muting the open B string next door to it.
- Parking on it. The flat 7th is unstable by design; E7 sounds best moving to A rather than held at the end of a phrase.
Guitar chord data last updated . Every diagram here, in the printable PDF and in the chart image comes from one dataset, so the paper and the screen cannot disagree.