Emaj7 piano chord, E major 7th notes and fingering.

The Emaj7 piano chord is E major 7th: E, G#, B and D#. It is the E major triad with the major seventh (D#) added on top, eleven semitones above the root and a single semitone below the next E. Chord charts write it as Emaj7, EMaj7 or EM7.

How to play Emaj7 on piano

1. Find E on the keyboard. E is the white key just right of the pair of black keys, the last white key before F.
2. With your right hand, put finger 1 on E, finger 2 on G#, finger 3 on B and finger 5 on D#. Finger 1 is the thumb.
3. Press all four keys together. In root position they run from E4 to D#5, a reach of 11 semitones. Play chord sounds them together and Arpeggio sounds them one by one, from the bottom up.
4. Click Left hand to see the left hand. It plays E3 to D#4, one octave lower: E with finger 5, G# with finger 3, B with finger 2, D# with finger 1.
5. The cards under the keyboard hold the four positions, with E, G#, B and D# at the bottom in turn. Play and Arpeggio on a card play that position.
6. Open Note names. As written the keys read E, G#, B and D#. Sharps shows E, G#, B and D#, and Flats shows E, Ab, B and Eb. This chord is written with sharps, so As written and Sharps match.

How Emaj7 is built

Counted from the root, the formula is 0, 4, 7, 11. Stacked on each other the gaps are 4 + 3 + 4: a major third, a minor third and another major third. The seventh (D#) sits one semitone under the next E, so the top and the root rub together very gently. That small clash gives the chord its soft, spacious sound.

Worked example: the pitch of E4. On a piano tuned to A4 = 440 Hz, a note 5 semitones below A4 has the frequency 440 × 2^(-5/12), which is about 329.63 Hz. G#4 is 1 semitones below A4, so 440 × 2^(-1/12) gives about 415.30 Hz.

What the keys look like under your hand

E has a black key on its left (Eb) and none on its right, because E and F are only a semitone apart. Two of the four notes are black keys (G# and D#) and two are white keys (E and B). Your little finger plays D#, a black key with D and E beside it. The little finger is short, so let the hand lean a little toward its edge and aim for the middle of the key. Finger 2 presses G#, a black key between G and A. The middle fingers are the longest, so they reach black keys most easily.

Emaj7 inversions and fingering

Emaj7 has four positions. In root position E is at the bottom. In the first inversion, G# is at the bottom and the chord is written Emaj7/G#. In the second inversion, B is at the bottom and the chord is written Emaj7/B. In the third inversion, D# is at the bottom and the chord is written Emaj7/D#. The tightest reach, 8 semitones from the lowest key to the highest, is the first inversion and third inversion. The widest, at 11, is the root position.

The keys that hold Emaj7

Emaj7 fits four of the major and natural minor keys that have a standard key signature, which means every note of it comes from that key's scale. The simplest is E major, with 4 sharps, where it is chord Imaj7.

Progressions that use Emaj7, with the chord numbers and the chords in that key:

• E major: Imaj7-V7-vi7-IVmaj7, which is Emaj7, B7, C#m7, Amaj7, the four-chord loop heard in a great deal of pop.
• C# minor: i7-IIImaj7-VII7-iv7, which is C#m7, Emaj7, B7, F#m7, a loop that climbs to III and VII.
• B major: Imaj7-IVmaj7-V7-Imaj7, which is Bmaj7, Emaj7, F#7, Bmaj7, the three-chord cadence of folk, rock and blues.

Here is a worked example in E major. The chord before Emaj7 in the first progression above is Amaj7 (A, C#, E and G#). From Amaj7 in root position, the closest way to reach Emaj7 is its second inversion (B, D#, E and G#, lowest note first): two notes stay where they are, and the others move 4 semitones in total, counting each note against the note in the same place from the bottom.

Look at the top three notes of Emaj7: G#, B and D# make a G# minor chord (G#, B and D#). A major 7th is a minor triad with the root added underneath.

What Emaj7 sounds like

Major 7th chords sound soft, warm and a little dreamy. They are at home in jazz, soul, bossa nova, lo-fi and ballads, and they do not need to resolve the way a dominant 7th does, so they can sit at the end of a phrase.

Emaj7 is the Imaj7 chord in E major, the IIImaj7 chord in C# minor and the IVmaj7 chord in B major.

A common mistake with Emaj7

A common mistake is pressing D instead of D# on top, one semitone lower than the seventh of Emaj7. That gives E7 (E, G#, B and D), a dominant 7th with a tense sound. The top note of Emaj7 should be the one right below the next E.

Chords to learn next

Chords close to Emaj7: E major (the same chord without the seventh; shares E, G# and B); E7 (a flat seventh instead; shares E, G# and B); C#m7 (shares three notes with it); Em7 (a minor third instead; shares E and B).

Once Emaj7 feels easy, play it and then E7 to hear what the flat seventh does. For chords beyond these six types, and for guitar and ukulele shapes, use the chord finder. To play along with your computer keys, open the virtual piano. The piano chords page lists all 72 chords.