Beautiful Chords in E Major

One Chord a Ton of Color Chords

Hey guys, welcome back to another awesome creative fingerstyle guitar lesson.

Today I will show you how you can easily create beautiful chords with a handful of chords and a couple of guitar tracks.

All the chords we are learning today are in E major’s key, an extraordinary and unique place where you can really create a ton of colorful chords with simple chord shapes.

The Video

Chords and Colors

I personally love the E major key.

All the chord progressions in this video are only possible and achievable if you play this beautiful key.

Keeping the top two strings (or just the 1st string) open allows you to come up with amazing, dreamy chords that make you sound awesome.

Some of these chords are easy, others might be more challenging, so I want to give you more info about the movable chords I played in this video.

Movable Chord Number 1

The Power Chord Shape

This chord reminds me of a power chord, and it is probably the easiest chord in this video.

It works amazingly well over many different positions, so there is a lot to experiment and try.

Each position will give you access to a completely different chord, and it will be up to you to really put it together without “overplay.”

The most common mistake I see with this chord shape is that guitar players try to play all of them all the time.

The fact that you have so many different possibilities doesn’t mean you have to use them all.

Find the one that you like the most and experiment with it.

The bass note can change between the E (6th open string) and A (5th open string).

Good luck!

The Add9 Chord

Stretchy but Beautiful

One of my favorite chord shape, the Add9 chord.

These types of chords are quite challenging because they can be stretchy and hard on the little finger.

It is of paramount importance that you really practice each one of these chords slowly.

The chord shape is always the same except for the Aadd9 chord, which will have the bass note open.

The chord progression here is really special: EmajAdd9 – C#min7add9 – Aadd9 – Cmaj7add9 – Dadd9 – EmajAdd9.

The C maj7add9 and the Aadd9 don’t really belong to this key, but they sound good and unexpected.

Definitely one of the best among the movable chords.

Good luck!

The Fix Chord

One Chord, Different Bass Note

You can also do a lot in E major key to play the same chord on the top three strings while you change the bass note.

In this example, I show you a straightforward chord to play on the top three strings that will be played throughout.

I love the fact that the chord will change depending on the bass note.

Emaj7 – C#min7add9 – Aadd9(#11) – Emaj7 – Bsus 

Once I am done playing the entire chord progression, I will move on to the new position, which is similar to the one you just played.

The chords through will change a lot.

Eadd9 – Cmin7(add11) – Aadd9 (6) – Eadd9 – Bsus

Definitely, an approach you want to keep experimenting with.

You could come up with a ton of movable chords.

The E Pedal

Bell Like Tone

Another approach I use a lot is the bell-like tone using the E pedal.

In this approach, I develop a melody played simultaneously with another sustained note (for this exercise, the E open string).

Notice how the pedal note sustains the melody and give rhythm, musicality, and color.

Even though a little different from the movable chords, this way of playing is still possible only in the key of E major.

Definitely the most difficult approach in this video.

Good luck.