Everything I’ll discuss in this column is pretty basic, and this chord is no different. It’s your basic E chord.

As you slide this chord shape up the neck, it turns into your basic barre chord and it changes chord name depending on which fret you play it at. When talking to other guitarists and explaining which chord shape I want them to play – after telling them I want them to play a G chord or a B flat chord or whatever – I refer to this chord as the "E shape" chord, regardless of where on the neck it is being played.

As you slide this chord shape up the neck, it turns into your basic barre chord and it changes chord name depending on which fret you play it at. When talking to other guitarists and explaining which chord shape I want them to play – after telling them I want them to play a G chord or a B flat chord or whatever – I refer to this chord as the "E shape" chord, regardless of where on the neck it is being played.

You probably know you can move this chord all the way up the neck of the guitar, and that it changes chord name at each fret. You can figure out which chord it is by determining the name of the note on the sixth string covered by your first finger barre, or the first string, or the note your little finger plays on the fourth string. They’re all the same note.

written by Adam St. James for Guitar.com