What does "e chord rooted on the 7th fret" mean? how do i play that an

Question:I should be a real sticker and ask what *type* of E chord you want to play. Well, I'm going to assume you're talking about a guitar, and to be on the safe side, I will give you a few different chords to choose from.

To play an E chord rooted on a certain fret means to play the chord with the root, the first note of the chord, on that fret.

First you've got to figure out where that root is on that fret. If you were to look at a fretboard chart you would see that there is an 'E' note at the 7th fret of the A string. That is the root we'll be using. Learn where the notes are on your fretboard, it will make you a better guitarist!

So far our tab for this chord would look like this - x7xxxx . All that's left is basically to find out what type of E chord to play on top of that root on the 7th fret (of the 5th string).

We could just play an E octave... x7x9xx . Playing the 3rd string (the 'G' string) on the 9th fret is also an E note, just one octave higher. We could play an E 5th chord, also known as the E power chord.... x79xxx . This is the quintessential 'hey, let's crank our amp and play distorted guitar!' chord. You can combine the two for a slightly fuller sound.... x799xxx.

Fingering: I usually use my index finger for the root of a power chord and either my ring finger or my pinky finger for the 5th if i'm only playing two notes, or my ring finger for the 5th and my pinky for the octave.

Another chord you can play around with is a suspended chord. I prefer the sound of the suspended 2nd (sus2) chord, but the sus4 is out there, too. With the root on the 5th string it's really easy to play the sus2... 779977. I forget how to play the sus4 chord is in this position, so I'm going to skip it. Try googling a chord chart if you're curious.

Fingering: You have to barre this one - place your index finger across all 7 frets. Barring is a tough technique, and you need to spend time doing it correctly! Make sure every note is clear, rings freely, and doesn't buzz. I play the other two notes here with my ring and pinky fingers, but I've heard that you can barre with your ring or pinky finger... not that I can do that!

... Something I wanted to make sure I touched on. On this chord, and a few others in my answer, I'm indicating to play the 7th fret of the 6th string. This is okay - we are still playing the root on the 5th string, and the root doesn't have to be the lowest note in a chord. It won't hurt anything to play it, and it's a lot harder to *not* play it, so .... anyhoo ...

So far all of these chords are basically neutral - neither major nor minor. So let's cover those, too.

Full-blown chords sound kinda crappy when distorted, so if you are playing 'heavy' then you can use those as abbreviations instead of the full chord. I've heard them called 'root-third power chords' or 'power dyads' or even just plain 'power chords', but basically they're the root and the third of a chord.

E Major root-third 'power dyad' x76xxx
E Minor root-third 'power dyad' x75xxx

Fingering: A little different this time - for major dyads i usually play the root with my middle finger and the third with my pointer, and for minor dyads i usually play the root with my ring finger and the third with my pointer. However, it really depends on what I'm doing - on some riffs I play the major dyad with my middle finger on the root, pointer finger on the third, and my ring finger is freed up to play higher notes (for trills, transitions, etc).

Or you can play the full major or minor chord...

E major 779997
E minor 779987

Fingering: Once again, the almighty barre! Play the E major with a barre across the 7th frets and a partial barre across the 9th frets - I use my pinky finger but some people cringe when they see that! You can barre with your ring finger also, and some people can squeeze all fingers into those three 9th frets. The E minor is similar; barre the 7th, and I play it by using a pinky and ring finger for the two 9th frets, and my middle finger for the 8th fret.

So... learn that fretboard! Practice your fingering, making sure that each note is clean and non-buzzy... playing cleanly will make you a better guitarist, and will make you sound better than you are to someone who doesn't know anything about guitar. =) And next time specify what type of chord you were looking for!

If I didn't cover the *right* chord for you, or if you have any questions, email me! I like talking guitar, and maybe I can offer advice or something. Good luck!

Saul

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I should be a real sticker and ask what *type* of E chord you want to play. Well, I'm going to assume you're talking about a guitar, and to be on the safe side, I will give you a few different chords to choose from.

To play an E chord rooted on a certain fret means to play the chord with the root, the first note of the chord, on that fret.

First you've got to figure out where that root is on that fret. If you were to look at a fretboard chart you would see that there is an 'E' note at the 7th fret of the A string. That is the root we'll be using. Learn where the notes are on your fretboard, it will make you a better guitarist!

So far our tab for this chord would look like this - x7xxxx . All that's left is basically to find out what type of E chord to play on top of that root on the 7th fret (of the 5th string).

We could just play an E octave... x7x9xx . Playing the 3rd string (the 'G' string) on the 9th fret is also an E note, just one octave higher. We could play an E 5th chord, also known as the E power chord.... x79xxx . This is the quintessential 'hey, let's crank our amp and play distorted guitar!' chord. You can combine the two for a slightly fuller sound.... x799xxx.

Fingering: I usually use my index finger for the root of a power chord and either my ring finger or my pinky finger for the 5th if i'm only playing two notes, or my ring finger for the 5th and my pinky for the octave.

Another chord you can play around with is a suspended chord. I prefer the sound of the suspended 2nd (sus2) chord, but the sus4 is out there, too. With the root on the 5th string it's really easy to play the sus2... 779977. I forget how to play the sus4 chord is in this position, so I'm going to skip it. Try googling a chord chart if you're curious.

Fingering: You have to barre this one - place your index finger across all 7 frets. Barring is a tough technique, and you need to spend time doing it correctly! Make sure every note is clear, rings freely, and doesn't buzz. I play the other two notes here with my ring and pinky fingers, but I've heard that you can barre with your ring or pinky finger... not that I can do that!

... Something I wanted to make sure I touched on. On this chord, and a few others in my answer, I'm indicating to play the 7th fret of the 6th string. This is okay - we are still playing the root on the 5th string, and the root doesn't have to be the lowest note in a chord. It won't hurt anything to play it, and it's a lot harder to *not* play it, so .... anyhoo ...

So far all of these chords are basically neutral - neither major nor minor. So let's cover those, too.

Full-blown chords sound kinda crappy when distorted, so if you are playing 'heavy' then you can use those as abbreviations instead of the full chord. I've heard them called 'root-third power chords' or 'power dyads' or even just plain 'power chords', but basically they're the root and the third of a chord.

E Major root-third 'power dyad' x76xxx
E Minor root-third 'power dyad' x75xxx

Fingering: A little different this time - for major dyads i usually play the root with my middle finger and the third with my pointer, and for minor dyads i usually play the root with my ring finger and the third with my pointer. However, it really depends on what I'm doing - on some riffs I play the major dyad with my middle finger on the root, pointer finger on the third, and my ring finger is freed up to play higher notes (for trills, transitions, etc).

Or you can play the full major or minor chord...

E major 779997
E minor 779987

Fingering: Once again, the almighty barre! Play the E major with a barre across the 7th frets and a partial barre across the 9th frets - I use my pinky finger but some people cringe when they see that! You can barre with your ring finger also, and some people can squeeze all fingers into those three 9th frets. The E minor is similar; barre the 7th, and I play it by using a pinky and ring finger for the two 9th frets, and my middle finger for the 8th fret.

So... learn that fretboard! Practice your fingering, making sure that each note is clean and non-buzzy... playing cleanly will make you a better guitarist, and will make you sound better than you are to someone who doesn't know anything about guitar. =) And next time specify what type of chord you were looking for!

If I didn't cover the *right* chord for you, or if you have any questions, email me! I like talking guitar, and maybe I can offer advice or something. Good luck!

Saul

It means the root note (e in this case) is in the seventh fret. The chord in question is probabably the bar chord made with first finger on e, (your second string or A string in open tuning) and barring the 3rd, 4th and 5th string in the 9th fret.

I've assumed you know what a fret is.

I would take that to mean that you play a Bb shape on the 7th fret. I n other words, put a 6-string barre with your 1st finger across the 7th fret, then play an A shape with the other three fingerson the 9th fret.. This will give the chord of E. Hope this helps

In tab:

E--7--
A--7--
D--9--
G--9--
B--9--
e--7--

Another way to look at the chord, beginning in the seventh fret:

779997

Saul, you wrote a book on a simple answer for an "E" chord onthe 7th fret.

Bar the 7th fret starting on the 5th string, and bar the 4th,3rd,2nd string with the 3rd finger only. PERIOD.

Second method, instead of barring with the 3rd finger, finger the 4th string/9th fret with 2nd finger, 3rd string/9th fret with the 3rd finder and 2nd string/9th fret with the pinky.