Shapes of things… E/A

EVH circa 1985 © Fabio Nosotti/CORBIS

The chord: E/A

Song: 316

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Context: As the third and seventh chords in the intro. Low to high strings: X 0 6 4 5 X (third chord); X 0 2 1 0 0 (seventh chord)

Did you know?

Like any other chord, E/A (a regular major chord with a 4th in the bass) can be moved around the guitar neck to become C/F, D/G, G/C etc. Find all the others on your guitar neck, and as many different ways to play them as possible

Also spotted in:

Never Be The Same, from Christopher Cross's debut album. E/A as the first chord of the intro and verses (low to high strings: X 0 2 1 0 0)

Eric Clapton's Behind The Mask, A/D as opening chord to intro and verses (low to high strings: X 5 7 6 5 5)

In Ozzie's Crazy Train, after the F#m start the verse proper is in A major. The second chord in the sequence is E/A (low to high strings: X 0 6 4 5 X)