How to Play an E Chord on Acoustic

The E major chord is a great chord to learn with conjunction with the A major and D major chords as they are used in a lot of song together. When I teacher students how to play and E chord on guitar, I teach it in conjunction with the Am chord since they are the same shape, just different strings.

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E Major Chord

The open E Major chord uses fingers 1, 2 and 3 on the 3rd, 5th and 4th strings respectively. The E major chord is a 6 string chord, so you would strum all of the strings. If you compare this to the Am chord below, you can see it’s that same exact shape except you are now playing finger 1, 2 and 3 on strings 2, 4 and 3 respectively.

So once you learn one chord you essentially know the other! The only other different is that Am is a 5 string chord, so you should not strum the top string.

To learn more about chords, chord progressions, strumming and picking applications, check out my 7 Level Guitar System. With over 50+ lessons, 90+ play alongs and a printable workbook with exercises, I can help you make you dream of playing the guitar come true.

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