E7 Guitar Chord Lesson for Beginners

The E7 Chord (also known as a Dominant E 7th Chord) is often referred to as a Blues chord. Once you learn to play it, you will understand why. It just has a real bluesy sound to it. It is definitely one of the easiest beginner chords to learn how to play. There are a several different ways to play it, but I will demonstrate the easiest ways in the following post.

The E7 Chord is found by first locating the 1, 3 and 5 (E, G# and B) of the E Major Scale: E  F# G# A B C# D# E, and then adding a flat 7 note. To locate the flat 7 note, we first find the 7th note of the E Major scale (D#) and then go back a 1/2 step to the D.

So the notes of the E7 Chord are: E  G# B D

Here is a key that will help you read the chart:

Guitar Chord Chart Key
Basic Guitar Chords - The E7 Guitar Chord

Chord Playing Tip: Be sure that you are pressing down on the string hard enough. You should play each string one at a time to make sure you have a nice clean sound. If any of the strings buzz or sound muted, then something is not right.

E7 Chord Video

The video below will further demonstrate how to correctly play the E7 Chord.  It also demonstrates how to play some variations of this chord