About E5 — triad voicings
E5 is E and B — E with the third taken out altogether.
It sounds blunt, and neither major nor minor. Distortion turns a real third to mud, which is why rock guitar plays this instead of a triad.
E5 notes and formula
| E | B |
|---|---|
| 1 | 5 |
Neutral — with no third it commits to no mode.
Also written E(no 3rd) or E power chord. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play E5
Three notes on one string set. No seventh, so nothing is claimed about the chord beyond its quality.
Thin on their own, excellent over a bass line or against someone else’s harmony.
E5 has 24 of them, on the bottom three strings, the low-middle three, the bottom four strings, the high-middle three, strings 6-4-3-2, the middle four strings, the top three strings, strings 5-3-2-1 and the top four strings, from the 2nd fret up to the 9th — every inversion the chord has: E in the bass and B in the bass. The one to learn first is the E shape at the 2nd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
4 of them sit on strings 6-4-3-2, so you can run the inversions up one set without changing strings — which is the whole reason to learn them as a family rather than as separate grips.
Start with 022xxx — 1 open string and only 2 fretted notes. 1 of the 3 shapes here sits in open position. None of them needs a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 2nd fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 022xxx | open position | E, root position | E | 1 open string |
| x79xxx | 7th fret | E, root position | B | all fretted |
| 12-14-14-x-x-x | 12th fret | E, root position | E | all fretted |
How to use E5
In which keys. Every note of E5 belongs to C major (the iii), C# minor (the ♭III), D major (the ii), E major (the I), E minor (the i), F# minor (the ♭VII), G major (the vi), Ab minor (the ♭VI), A major (the V), A minor (the v), B major (the IV) and B minor (the iv).
What to play over E5
Every note of E5 is in E major pentatonic, E minor pentatonic, E blues, E major and E lydian.
Chords near E5
Change one note of E5 and you have E (add the major third), Em (add the minor third), Esus2 (add the ninth), Esus4 (add the fourth), E/G# (add the major third) or E/B (add the major third).
E5 is a suspended chord — root and fifth, with a second or fourth where the third would be — or nothing at all. Suspended and power chords on every root.
On E5’s sound and use this page follows Robert Rawlins & Nor Eddine Bahha, Jazzology (Hal Leonard, 2005). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.