E5 on the piano is a power chord chord made from E, B. On piano it is played from the keys E, B, root position first, then in inversions. Below you will find its notes and intervals, every usable voicing on the piano, the common mistakes players make with it and the keys and progressions where it belongs.
What notes are in the E5 chord?
The E5 chord is a power chord chord, and its notes are fixed: E, B. Every voicing on every instrument uses these same notes, in some order and in some octave — change one of them and you are playing a different chord. The table below lists each note with its interval from the root E, so you can see the structure of E5 at a glance. On the piano, E5 is the keys E, B, and the inversions above move the same notes around.
| Note | Interval |
|---|---|
| E | Root |
| B | 5 |
The root is E, the note the chord is named after and the note your ear hears as home. Above it, the intervals in E5 are 5. Once you know the intervals, you can build E5 from any root by counting the same semitone steps, which is how the chord works in every key. On the piano, the notes appear in the order the fingering dictates, but the set of notes never changes.
E5 sounds raw and driving, the sound of rock and metal rhythm guitar. Listen for that character when you play it — if E5 does not sound that way, one of the notes is probably wrong, and the table above is the place to check. On the piano, play the keys E, B slowly and listen for each note of E5 in turn.
Comparing E5 with its closest relatives helps to fix it in your ear. In short, power chord against a full triad: E5 has only E, B — root and 5th. Add the 3rd G# and it becomes major; add G and it becomes minor. Practise the two chords back to back and listen to the one note that changes — that single note is the difference between the two chords. On the piano, the root-position keys E, B show E5 most clearly.
How to play E5 on piano
On the piano, E5 is played from the keys E, B. In root position the lowest note is E, the root, with the other notes stacked above it in the order E, B. Play it with the right hand first, then with the left hand an octave lower, so both hands know the shape of E5 before you try it in a progression.
First inversion of E5 puts B in the bass, with the notes in the order B, E. The chord is still E5 — the notes have not changed, only their order — but the bass note changes how it connects to the chord before and after it. Use this inversion when the bass line wants to step to B rather than jump to E, and practise moving from root position to this inversion without lifting your hand off the keys more than you must.
For fingering, a good starting point for E5 in root position in the right hand is thumb on E, then one finger per note in order, with the little finger on the top note B. For the left hand, mirror it: little finger on the low E and thumb on the top note. When a note is a black key — none of the notes in this chord are black keys — let your longer fingers take it, since they reach the black keys more easily. Practise E5 in root position and first inversion, hands separately, then together, at a slow tempo, and use the Piano Chord Finder to check the voicing on the keyboard.
Common mistakes
These are the mistakes that most often make E5 sound wrong on the piano, and each one has a concrete fix. Work through them one at a time rather than trying to fix everything at once.
Playing every inversion with the same hand shape. Each inversion of E5 needs its own hand shape, because the notes sit under different fingers. If you force the root-position fingering onto an inversion, the hand cramps and notes get missed. Learn the fingering for each inversion of E5 separately, hands apart, before you join them. On the piano, play the keys E, B slowly and listen for each note of E5 in turn.
Adding a 3rd by accident. A stray finger on the 3rd can turn a power chord into a triad, which sounds muddy through distortion. Mute the strings that should not sound. On the piano, the root-position keys E, B show E5 most clearly.
Letting open strings ring. Open strings that are not part of the chord blur the sound. Mute them with the edge of your fretting hand. On the piano, E5 is the keys E, B, and the inversions above move the same notes around.
Playing it too slowly. Power chords are about rhythm and movement. Practise changing them on the beat, not between beats. On the piano, play the keys E, B slowly and listen for each note of E5 in turn.
Where E5 is used
E5 is not a diatonic triad in any major or minor key, because it is an extended or altered chord, but its base triad belongs to the key of E major, the key of A major, the key of B major. a moving chord: power chords slide up and down the neck as a single shape. As a dominant-type chord it also points toward A major, the key a perfect fourth above E, which is the tonic it most often resolves to. That is where E5 does its work: not as a home chord, but as a chord that creates movement and then resolves. On the piano, E5 is the keys E, B, and the inversions above move the same notes around.
Because E5 is an extended or altered chord, it appears in progressions as a colour or a dominant rather than as a diatonic staple. Try it in place of the plain E triad in a progression you already know, and listen to how the extra notes change the feel — that substitution is the usual way extended chords enter real music. The Chord Progression Builder lets you try E5 in a progression in any key and hear how it connects to the chords around it. On the piano, play the keys E, B slowly and listen for each note of E5 in turn.
The same chord on other instruments is covered in E5 on guitar, E5 on ukulele, E5 on bass, and the scales that fit over it are the E major scale and the E minor pentatonic scale. Learning E5 on the piano and then checking it on another instrument is one of the best ways to fix the notes — E, B — in your memory, because the notes stay the same while everything else changes.
Practising E5
A short worked example makes E5 concrete. Play the four-chord progression A – E – F#m – D in A major, the key E5 most often resolves toward: A – E – F#m – D. Play each chord for one bar at a slow tempo, and listen to how E5 sounds in that sequence — whether it feels like home, like a lift, or like a chord on its way somewhere else. Then play the same four chords in a different order, starting on E5 itself, and notice how its character changes when it opens the progression instead of sitting inside it. On the piano, E5 is the keys E, B, and the inversions above move the same notes around.
For a second exercise, play E5 and then the chord a fourth above E, back and forth, four times each. That move — a chord and the chord a fourth above it — is the most common resolution in Western music, and it is the move E5 is built for when it acts as a dominant. Finish by playing E5 on its own, slowly, and naming each note out loud as you play it: E, B. Naming the notes while you play them is what turns a shape into knowledge you can use in any key. Test yourself with the Practice Chord Quiz and keep time with the Metronome as the tempo rises. On the piano, E5 is the keys E, B, and the inversions above move the same notes around.
Frequently asked questions
What notes are in E5?
Just two: E, B. The root E and the perfect 5th B. Some voicings add the root an octave higher, but the chord itself is only those two pitch classes. On the piano, check the root-position keys above for that note.
How do you play E5 on the piano?
In root position, play the keys E, B, with E as the lowest note. That is the basic shape of E5 on the piano. The inversions above put a different note in the bass, and the Chord Inverter shows every inversion of E5 on the keyboard.
What is the first inversion of E5?
The first inversion of E5 puts B in the bass, with the notes in the order B, E. The chord is still E5 — only the bass note has changed — and it is the inversion to use when the bass line steps to B.
Which fingers do you use for E5 on piano?
In the right hand, start with the thumb on E and one finger per note in order, ending with the little finger on B. In the left hand, mirror it with the little finger on the low E. Longer fingers take the black keys, so check which notes of E5 are black keys before you settle on a fingering.
Is E5 major or minor?
Neither. E5 contains only E, B — the root and the perfect 5th — so it has no 3rd to make it major or minor. That is why it works over both. On the piano, check the root-position keys above for that note.