E major: scale and chords

The E major scale

E F♯ G♯ A B C♯ D♯

Key signature: four sharps, written F♯ C♯ G♯ D♯; E major is the major key with four sharps. Whole and half steps: W W H W W W H, with the half steps between G♯ and A and between D♯ and E. On a piano: four black keys, three white.

The chord on the fifth degree, B7, pulls back to E.

In Hz, from the keynote in octave 4: E4 329.6 · F♯4 370.0 · G♯4 415.3 · A4 440.0 · B4 493.9 · C♯5 554.4 · D♯5 622.3

Play the scale

E major scale on piano

Right hand 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5, the thumb on E and again on A. Left hand 5 4 3 2 1 3 2 1, the thumb on B, the third finger over it to C♯. E is the white key just right of the pair of black keys.

E major scale on guitar

Open position, the scale most guitarists learn first: low E string 0 2 4, A string 0 2 4, D string 1 2. Up the neck from the E at the 7th fret of the A string: A 7 9, D 6 7 9, G 6 8 9. The open low E, 82.4 Hz, is the lowest note of a standard-tuned guitar, one reason so much guitar music sits in E.

On violin, in first position: D string 1 2 3 (E F♯ G♯, the 3rd finger high, next to the 4th), A string 0 1 2 3 (A B C♯ D♯, 2nd and 3rd high), then the open E string.

E major scale on guitar · E major pentatonic scale · E major scale on piano

The E major chord (E) on guitar and piano

E G♯ B

E is E, G♯ and B: the keynote, the major third and the fifth. It's the chord a song in E comes home to, the I in the table below.

Guitar: 0 2 2 1 0 0 (low E to high E). Index on the G string at the 1st fret, middle on the A string and ring on the D string at the 2nd; strum all six. Three of the six strings sound E.

Ukulele: 4 4 4 2 (G C E A), or 1 4 0 2 if the stretch is easier for you. E has no comfortable open shape on a ukulele.

Piano: E (white), G♯ (black) and B (white). From the root, 4 semitones up to the third, 3 more to the fifth. Right hand 1 3 5, left hand 5 3 1; inverted, G♯ B E and B E G♯ are the same chord.

Play E

The chords in E major

Tap a chord to hear it.

The loop plays I–V–vi–IV: E B C♯m A.

E major chord progressions

On guitar, low E to high E: E 022100 · F♯m 244222 · G♯m 466444 · A x02220 · B x24442 (B7 x21202) · C♯m x46654 · D♯° x6787x.

• I–V–vi–IV E B C♯m A: the loop above, and the opening of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'".
• I–IV–V E A B7: the twelve-bar blues in its guitar key, all open chords (B7 is x 2 1 2 0 2).
• I–vi–IV–V E C♯m A B: the 1950s turn.
• I–iii–IV E G♯m A: a softer way from home to the IV.
• ii–V–I F♯m7 B7 Emaj7: the jazz cadence.

Keys that mix with E major

On the Camelot wheel E major is 12B (Open Key 5d). Tracks in these keys mix without a clash:

• 12A C♯ minor relative minor, the same seven notes
• 11B A major one step down
• 1B B major one step up
• 2B F♯ major two steps up, the energy boost

The relative minor of E major is C♯ minor: the same four sharps, C♯ as home. E minor (9A) is the parallel minor, the same keynote with one sharp only (F♯); its own relative major is G major, not E major.

Songs and pieces in E major

Classical: "Spring" from Vivaldi's Four Seasons (RV 269), Bach's Violin Concerto No. 2 (BWV 1042) and the Preludio of his Partita No. 3 for solo violin (BWV 1006), Chopin's Étude Op. 10 No. 3 and Bruckner's Symphony No. 7. Pop and rock: "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey, and a large share of guitar blues, because the open E, A and B7 chords lie under the hand.

Questions about E major

What notes are in an E chord on piano?

E, G♯ and B: two white keys around one black.

What chords go with an E chord?

In E major: A and B (IV and V), C♯m, F♯m and G♯m. B7 leads back to E most strongly.

E major or E-flat major?

E♭ major is a semitone lower, with three flats (B♭ E♭ A♭). Chopin's well-known Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2 is in E♭, not E.

What plays

Drums, an organ bass and a pluck, the Brumm app's own sounds, four bars at 123 BPM, one chord per bar. The arrows move bass and chords a semitone; the drums stay.

Where E major sits

Choir parts (soprano C4–G5, alto G3–D5, tenor C3–G4, bass F2–D4, where two part-writing guides agree): E4–E5 fits the soprano part; E3–E4 fits the tenor part; no whole E-to-E octave fits the alto or bass parts. Find your own range.

As a sub or an 808, the keynote is E1 at 41.2 Hz, the lowest open string of a four-string bass, or E2 at 82.4 Hz an octave up. Phone and laptop speakers hardly reproduce 41 Hz: check a drop in E on headphones or monitors. Tune an 808 to E.

Then hum over it

The hum button opens Brumm with a short line in the key over a beat. Hum yours and it becomes an instrument. No account, no upload.

Sources

Scales and chords: Open Music Theory, musictheory.net. Camelot, Open Key: Mixed In Key, Mixgraph. Open strings: Wikipedia. Choir parts: Open Music Theory, Geneseo. Guitar shapes: Wikipedia, Barre chord. Hz: A4 = 440 Hz, ISO 16.

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