Some other E major chords

ActionTab

Quick Reference

This handy chart tells you what every dot in the ActionTab system means. If you don't understand some of them don't worry - we have video lessons that explain them in the members section.

Fretboard & Capo

The fretboard is the area of your guitar where you play

Some songs require a capo. A capo is just a clamp which you can place on any fret. This effectively moves

the 'nut' of the guitar, allowing you to play 'open' chords higher up the fretboard. In ActionTab the capo is represented by the black bar on the left.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Space, K	Pause/Play
Home	Rewind
End	Go to End
	Step Forward
	Step Backward
M	Mute/Unmute
F	Fullscreen
H	Toggle Help
S	Save Settings
R	Restore Defaults
O	Toggle Loop
D	Toggle Delay Start
X	Toggle Light Strings
W	Flip Fretboard
C	Fretboard Color
T	Tablature
N	Normal Speed Window
B	Bookmark Position
,	Set Loop Section Start
.	Set Loop Section End
/	Clear Loop Section

Strumming Hand Dots

Fingerpick

Fingertap

Downstroke

Upstroke (Palm muted)

Pinch Harmonic

Color Codes

Applies to both hands

Thumb

1st (index) Finger

2nd Finger

3rd (ring) Finger

4th (little) Finger

Fretboard Hand Dots

Hold finger here

Bend note down

Bend note up

Hammer On

Pull Off

Slide dot this way

Prepare note

Mute note/string

Harmonic

Vibrato

Open string note (no finger)

Song Notes

Here we play the E major chord in different places along the fretboard. The nice thing about E chords is that you can easily combine the low and high open E strings as well as notes higher up the fretboard.

The E major chord is just the E, G#, B notes played together. This combination of notes occurs in different places along the fretboard. Here we take a look at the most common places. We've already played the low open E major chord, so let's move up the neck and play out some more.

Notice how the chords all sound very similar (they are the same 3 notes after all)....

1st chord strum in the ActionTab plays through the E major chord notes in the following order (from lowest to highest):

Low E - B - E - B - E - G#

2nd chord strum (from lowest to highest):

Low E - E - G# - B - E - G#

3rd chord strum (from lowest to highest):

Low E - E - B - E - G# - mute the high string*

* this is the easiest way to play this chord, it is common to omit or mute strings in this way when strumming chords, for comfort and speed.

4th chord strum (from lowest to highest):

Low E - G# - B - E - G# - E

5th chord strum (from lowest to highest):

Low E - B - E - G# - B - E

You may recognise some of these chord 'shapes' (arrangements of fingers). For example, the first E major chord in this ActionTab looks a lot like a D chord moved up by 2 frets. And it is. All the chords in this ActionTab are a form of barre chord! Go to the lessons on strumming to learn about barre chords and how they work. (Basically a barre chord is a way of playing through different chords using other chord shapes).

In this ActionTab we move through the following shapes to play the same E major chord:

D shape
C shape
A shape
G shape
E shape

We'll explore the full potential of shifting common chord shapes like this when we look at the CAGED system. But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves yet. First we need to look at the most common chords, and their finger positions (shapes)! Go on to the next ActionTab in this chord section after you're done here....and don't worry if you can't play the chords in this ActionTab straightaway - some of them will definitely take practice!

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