Sevenths
E major 7th chord
Lush and mellow — a signature sound of jazz, soul and bossa nova.
Emaj7 is the Imaj7 chord in E major and IVmaj7 in B major. In minor keys: IIImaj7 in C♯ minor and VImaj7 in G♯ minor.
- Notes
- EG♯BD♯
- Formula
- 1357
- Built from
- root · major 3rd · perfect 5th · major 7th
How to play Emaj7
About the E major 7th chord
Emaj7 is the IVmaj7 of B and the Imaj7 of E, with a shimmering sound on guitar thanks to its open strings.
Playing it
On guitar, Emaj7 has an open-position shape, 021100, using three fingers alongside the open strings.
On piano, Emaj7 has two black keys (G♯ and D♯) and two white keys.
On ukulele the usual Emaj7 shape is 1302, using three fingers.
Related chords
Take away the root and the other three notes form G♯m (G♯ B D♯) — so you can think of Emaj7 as G♯m with E added underneath.
Move a single note and Emaj7 becomes a different chord: drop the D♯ for E, lower D♯ to D for E7, swap D♯ for C♯ for E6 and swap D♯ for F♯ for Eadd9.
Where you’ll hear it
You’ll find Emaj7 in common progressions such as F♯m7–B7–Emaj7 (the jazz cadence in E major).
