Another Flavour of Chord

So far the chords you've learnt have had only two distinctive sounds - major and minor - but there are many kinds of chords that have very different sounds. One of the most popular kinds of chords is called a 7th chord. This is E seventh, to play it you start of with an E Major chord but take your third finger off so that the 4th string is open.

If you want to give your 12-bar a more interesting sound you can add an E seventh chord into your progression so that it would be played like this:

A  /  /  /  A  /  /  /  A  /  /  /  A  /  /  /

D  /  /  /  D  /  /  /  A  /  /  /  A  /  /  /

E7 /  /  /  D  /  /  /  A  /  /  /  E7 /  /  /

Another popular 12-bar blues progression played with a 7th chord in it goes like this:

E  /  /  /  E  /  /  /  E  /  /  /  E  /  /  /

A  /  /  /  A  /  /  /  E  /  /  /  E  /  /  /

B7 /  /  /  A  /  /  /  E  /  /  /  B7 /  /  /

The pinky (4th finger) in this chord is optional because it sounds almost as good with the 1st string open. Don't be afraid to miss it out when you first learn this chord and add it in later when you feel a little more confident.