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E major chord

The three notes, the three ways to stack them and which fingers to use.

The short answer

The notes of the E major chord are E, G sharp and B.

On the keys

Keyboard with E, G sharp and B markedEBG♯

Yellow is the root, the note the chord is named after.

On the staff

Treble and bass staves showing the E major chord in root position: E, G sharp and B

The E major chord in root position. The treble clef is the right hand; the bass clef is the same chord an octave lower for the left.

Inversions

An inversion keeps the same three notes and changes which one is lowest. The E major chord has a root position and two inversions, and all three still sound as E major.

  1. Root positionE G♯ Bright hand 1 3 5, left hand 5 3 1
  2. First inversionG♯ B Eright hand 1 2 5, left hand 5 3 1
  3. Second inversionB E G♯right hand 1 3 5, left hand 5 2 1

Keep going

E major scale

The scale this chord is built on: E, F sharp, G sharp, A, B, C sharp and D sharp.

C sharp minor chord

The relative minor shares the same key signature as E major.

E minor chord

Same root, one note different: the third moves a semitone down.

Questions

How do you build an E major chord?

Start on E, add the major third (four semitones) above it, which is G sharp, then the perfect fifth above the root (seven semitones), which is B.

How many inversions does an E major chord have?

Two: first inversion puts G sharp at the bottom and second inversion puts B at the bottom. With root position that makes three ways to play the same chord.

Practise E major and the chords around it in PlayPiano, a piano practice app for iPhone and iPad.

Play it in the app