Dominant 7th chord · E root
E7 chord
- E1
- G#3
- B5
- D♭7
The E dominant 7th chord is built from the notes E, G#, B, D. It turns up 29 times in the 80 songs on this site, including (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay and All of Me.
By Chiye · Updated
What is the E7 chord?
The E7 chord (E dominant 7th) is a dominant 7th chord built from four notes: E, G#, B, D — the 1–3–5–♭7 of the E scale, 4 semitones and 7 semitones and 10 semitones above the root. On guitar it is most often played in open position (0-2-0-1-0-0) with 2 fingers while 4 strings ring open. It is rated beginner — most players learn it in their first weeks. A tense, bluesy chord that wants to resolve down a fifth. It is one of the most-used chords in this site's library: across the 80 song sheets charted here, E7 appears 29 times in 9 songs, most often in the keys of C and Am, and the chord it most often moves to is E7. Below you will find step-by-step fingering, 3 positions up the neck, audio of every shape, and the real progressions this chord lives inside.
How do you play the E7 chord on guitar?
Open position — the easiest version of E7 on the guitar.
- Press the A string at fret 2 with your middle finger.
- Press the G string at fret 1 with your index finger.
- Strum all six strings and let every one ring.
If it buzzes, the usual cause is a fingertip sitting in the middle of the fret space instead of just behind the wire. Move the whole hand a few millimetres toward the bridge and the buzz usually disappears without any extra pressure. 0-2-0-1-0-0
How do you make E7 sound clean?
Adding the pinky on the B string crowds the ring finger. Use the two-finger E7 (leave the B string open) until the full shape relaxes.
E7 → A7 → E7 is the start of the 12-bar blues in E. Loop it at 70 BPM.
In real songs
What songs use the E7 chord?
- chord changes
- 29
- songs
- 9
- common keys
- C · Am
Across the 80 chord sheets on this site, E7 appears 29 times in 9 songs — most often in the keys of C and Am.
GE7GE7
CCE7E7
CCE7E7
All 9 songs that use E7— key, capo and a link to every sheet
| Song | Artist | Key | Capo |
|---|---|---|---|
| (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay | Otis Redding | G | — |
| All of Me | Jazz Standard | C | — |
| Bye Bye Blackbird | Jazz Standard | F | — |
| Fly Me to the Moon | Bart Howard | C | — |
| Folsom Prison Blues | Johnny Cash | E | — |
| Georgia on My Mind | Ray Charles | C | — |
| I Walk the Line | Johnny Cash | F | 1 |
| Imagine | John Lennon | C | — |
| Summertime | George Gershwin | Am | — |
Chord flow
What chord comes after E7?
The counts come from our own song library — 1560 chord changes in total — which makes them a snapshot of real songs instead of a rule of thumb.
Three-chord moves
Three-chord moves are where a chord really shows its character. These are the ones that actually happen in this library, counted from the sheets:
What other ways can you play E7 up the neck?
2 more positions below. Learn one of these well and the rest become optional. The value of a second position is practical: it keeps your fretting hand near where the song is already heading.
Position 2 · Fret 2
Because nothing rings open, you can move this whole shape to any fret and it keeps the same quality — only the letter name changes.
Position 3 · Fret 7 barre
No open strings, so this is a movable shape: slide it up or down and the same fingering gives you a different chord name.
One bar does most of the work. Roll that finger onto its bony edge and pull the elbow slightly in — a barre that buzzes is almost always a position problem, not a strength problem.
Watch the E7 chord
Video: JustinGuitar on YouTube — embedded with the official player; credit and views belong to the creator.
The theory behind E7
E7 is spelled E – G# – B – D — the 1 – 3 – 5 – ♭7 of the E scale, which is the root plus 4 semitones, 7 semitones, 10 semitones. A tense, bluesy chord that wants to resolve down a fifth.
The flat seventh is a whole tone below the octave, and it is the note that creates the pull toward the chord a fifth below E7. Mute that note by accident and the chord turns into a plain major triad.
What key is the E7 chord in?
E7 is the V7 in the key of A — in both A major and A minor — which is exactly why it resolves to A.
the dominant — the flat seventh is what pulls it home
the same dominant job in the minor key
E7 on other instruments
1 2 0 2
The same chord on four strings in standard tuning. Because the uke is tuned higher, this shape sits at a different place on the neck than its guitar equivalent — useful when arranging for both instruments.
E – G# – B – D — the highlighted black keys are the sharps or flats; play each note once, then move them into one hand position.
Take it to the practice room
