How to Play the Emaj7 Guitar Chord (Every Shape, No Buzzing)

To play an Emaj7 chord on guitar, put your index finger on the 1st fret of the 3rd string (G), your ring finger on the 1st fret of the 4th string (D), and your middle finger on the 2nd fret of the 5th string (A). The low E, B, and high E strings all stay open. Strum all six strings. If you already know a plain open E major chord, this is that exact shape with the ring finger dropped back one fret, from the 2nd fret to the 1st, on the D string. Everything below covers what that one-fret change actually does, the easier version that drops a finger entirely, and how to move in and out of the chord without losing the beat.

The Emaj7 chord, string by string

Here is the full open shape as a table. "Finger" uses standard numbering: 1 is your index finger, 2 is your middle finger, 3 is your ring finger, 4 is your pinky.

Three fingers, three fretted notes, three open strings. The open low E supplies the root, E, at the bottom of the chord, and the open B and high E strings ring the 5th and the root again on top, which is why Emaj7 sounds so full for a chord that only asks for three fingers.

If you already play a plain E major chord, comparing the two shapes side by side makes the whole thing click faster than memorizing Emaj7 from nothing. E major uses the same index finger on the G string and the same middle finger on the A string, but its ring finger sits on the D string's 2nd fret instead of the 1st. Move that one finger back a single fret, toward the nut, and E major becomes Emaj7. Nothing else about the shape changes.

An easier version, using one finger less

Because the A string's note is not the only thing that makes Emaj7 sound like Emaj7, you can drop it from the chord entirely and still play something that is unmistakably Emaj7, using a single finger instead of three.

Lay your index finger flat across the D and G strings at the 1st fret instead of using separate fingers for each, and let the underside of that same finger rest lightly against the A string to keep it from ringing. Everything else stays exactly as it was. You lose the A string's B note, which is a 5th the chord already has twice over from the open B and high E strings, so nothing essential goes missing. What you gain is a genuinely one-finger version of a four-note chord, which is a fair trade while your middle and ring fingers are still building the coordination the full shape asks for.

This version is worth learning as a real alternative in its own right, not only as training wheels. Plenty of players keep reaching for it even after the three-finger version feels comfortable, simply because one finger is less that can go wrong mid-song.

Which strings to strum

Strum all six strings on the full open shape. Unlike some open chords that ask you to avoid the low E string, Emaj7's low E is the root of the chord, so there is nothing to dodge. Strumming straight through from the low E string to the high E string is the whole strumming pattern.

The one exception is the easier, one-finger version above. There, the A string is deliberately muted rather than played, so a strum needs to either start from the low E and let the muted A string thump silently in passing, which works fine since it produces no ringing pitch, or skip the low E and A strings both and start the strum from the D string instead, which some players prefer for a slightly tighter, less bass-heavy sound. Either approach is correct. Try both and use whichever matches the sound you want in a given song.

What actually makes it "maj7"

An Emaj7 chord is built from four notes: E (the root), G# (the major 3rd), B (the perfect 5th), and D# (the major 7th). Plain E major uses only the first three of those. Add the major 7th, the note one half step below the root, and you get Emaj7's softer, more suspended sound, often described as dreamy or a little wistful next to the brighter, more settled sound of plain E.

The "7" in a chord name always points to some form of the 7th note above the root, but which kind of 7th matters enormously, and it is the single most common source of confusion for players newer to seventh chords:

Seeing "maj7" or "M7" written out is the guitar world's way of being explicit that the 7th is major, not flattened, precisely because a bare "E7" already means something different, the bluesier, more unresolved chord in the table above. If a chart just says "E7," that is not shorthand for Emaj7, it is a different chord with a different note in it. Written notation for Emaj7 also shows up as EM7 or as a triangle symbol, EΔ7, especially on jazz lead sheets. All three mean the identical chord.

Why your Emaj7 is buzzing or sounds dead

With three fingers working in a fairly tight cluster near the nut, a handful of specific habits account for nearly every buzz or muted note on this chord. Work through them one at a time.

Your index and ring fingers are crowding each other

The index finger on the G string and the ring finger on the D string sit at the same fret, right next to each other, which is a tighter arrangement than most open chords ask for. If either finger leans sideways even slightly, it can brush its neighbor's string and deaden it. Fret the shape, then pick the D and G strings separately. Both should ring cleanly on their own. If one sounds muted, narrow that finger's contact point so it presses straight down rather than leaning toward the string beside it.

The middle finger on the A string is under-pressing

The middle finger's stretch to the A string's 2nd fret is the shape's least supported note, since it is not braced against a neighboring finger the way the index and ring fingers are against each other. Fret the full chord, pick the A string alone, and listen for buzz. If you hear it, add pressure gradually until it clears, then commit that exact amount of pressure to memory rather than only holding the shape and hoping.

A finger is flattening and muting an open string

The three open strings, low E, B, and high E, are a big part of why Emaj7 rings the way it does, so an accidentally muted one changes the chord more than it would on a shape with fewer open strings. Pick the B string on its own with the chord held. It should sound exactly as it does with your fretting hand off the guitar. If it sounds shorter or duller, your ring finger is likely leaning back far enough to brush it, and adjusting that finger's angle usually clears it right away.

You are pressing in the middle of the fret space

A fret number refers to the space between two metal fret wires, not the wire itself. Pressing close to the wire nearer the body of the guitar takes noticeably less force than pressing in the middle of that space. If any of your three fingers sits in the middle of its fret rather than hugging the wire, you will need more effort to avoid a buzz, and your hand will tire faster over a practice session.

Old E major muscle memory is putting the ring finger on the wrong fret

Because Emaj7 is so close to a plain E major chord, it is common for a ring finger that already knows E major well to land on the D string's 2nd fret out of habit instead of the 1st. The result sounds like a slightly wrong E major rather than an obvious mistake, which makes it a harder error to catch by ear than an outright buzz. Check the D string specifically. If it sounds like it belongs to E major rather than Emaj7, your ring finger has crept back a fret.

Emaj7 further up the neck: the jazz voicing rooted on the A string

Once the open shape is comfortable, it is worth knowing a compact, movable version built around the A string instead of the low E string, since jazz players reach for this shape constantly.

Index finger on the A string's 7th fret carries the root, E. Middle finger sits on the G string's 8th fret for D#, the major 7th. Ring finger reaches to the D string's 9th fret for B, the 5th. Pinky finger stretches to the B string's 9th fret for G#, the major 3rd. Both outer strings, low E and high E, stay muted.

This exact finger pattern is entirely movable, which is what makes it useful beyond this one chord. Slide the whole shape down two frets and you get Dmaj7 rooted the same way. Slide it up one fret and you get Fmaj7. Because it stacks the chord's four notes into a tight, smooth-sounding cluster rather than spreading them across open strings, this voicing turns up constantly in jazz progressions where a maj7 chord needs to connect smoothly with the minor7 and dominant7 chords around it.

A full six-string barre version further up the neck

The compact jazz voicing above skips the low E and high E strings entirely. A fuller, six-string version keeps the same basic shape but adds a barre to bring both outer strings back in.

Your index finger lays flat across the 7th fret from the A string through to the high E string, the same role the open strings play in the shape covered earlier, while your middle, ring, and pinky fingers fill in the higher notes on the G, D, and B strings exactly as they did in the jazz voicing. The low E string stays muted, the same way an open A chord leaves it out. This shape asks for real independence between your middle, ring, and pinky fingers, since each one has to hold its own fret while the index finger underneath keeps a full barre going, and it will likely feel uncomfortable at first. Because every note comes from a finger rather than an open string, the whole shape is movable in exactly the same way the compact version above is.

Emaj7 with a capo: the same open ring in other keys

The two movable shapes above are the standard way to play a maj7 chord in a key other than E, but both trade away the open shape's ringing open strings for a barre or a tight finger cluster. A capo offers a different route: it lets you keep playing the exact three-finger open shape you already know, with all three open strings still ringing, while the capo shifts the whole thing to a different pitch.

Clamp a capo across the 1st fret and play the identical shape, index, middle, and ring fingers in the same relative spots, and the chord that rings out is Fmaj7, not Emaj7, because the capo has raised every open and fretted note by one half step. This is why singer-songwriters who want a maj7 chord's open, airy character in a key like F or G often reach for a capo instead of the compact voicings further up the neck: the capo preserves the exact open-string ring that gives the shape its character, where a barre-based movable shape cannot.

Every Emaj7 voicing in this article, at a glance

With four different ways to play the same chord covered above, it helps to see them side by side and know when each one earns its place.

The open shape is the one worth making automatic first, since it is what most songs actually call for and what the rest of this article assumes you know by the time it reaches the chord changes. The other three are genuinely useful, not just alternatives for their own sake: the one-finger version buys speed, and the two shapes further up the neck buy portability to other keys and a tighter, more compact sound. Which one you reach for in a given song depends on what the arrangement around it is already doing, not on which is "correct."

Emaj7 vs E7: the mix-up most players make

Emaj7 and E7 share so much of the same shape that mixing them up is easy, and it is one of the most common points of confusion among players who already know one of the two chords well.

The only difference between the two shapes is a single finger on a single string. Emaj7 frets the D string at the 1st fret with the ring finger, giving D#, the major 7th. E7 leaves that same string open, giving D natural, the flat 7th that makes E7 sound bluesy and unresolved instead of smooth and settled. If you already know how to play E7 comfortably, adding Emaj7 is a matter of dropping one extra finger onto the D string, nothing more.

Emaj7 vs Em7: the same foundation, two fingers apart

Emaj7 and Em7 also share a surprising amount in common, once you set them side by side, even though a major chord and its minor counterpart usually feel like distant relatives.

Em7's open shape uses a single fretted note, the same middle finger on the A string's 2nd fret that Emaj7 also uses. Everything else in Em7 stays open, including the D and G strings that Emaj7 frets at the 1st fret. Add your index finger to the G string and your ring finger to the D string, and Em7 becomes Emaj7, the minor 3rd sharpening into a major 3rd and the flat 7th sharpening into a major 7th at the same time. Seeing the two chords built from the identical starting point makes the major-versus-minor difference far easier to hear on purpose rather than by accident.

Emaj7 as a passing chord between E and E7

Beyond standing on its own, Emaj7 shows up constantly as a stepping stone inside a short chromatic line, the move from a plain E chord to its bluesier E7 relative. Instead of jumping straight from E to E7, songwriters and arrangers often insert Emaj7 in between, so the inner voice on the D string steps down one half step at a time rather than jumping.

Played in sequence, E, Emaj7, E7, that inner voice walks down chromatically, E to D# to D, while the rest of each chord stays anchored around it. This is the same idea behind the general descending chromatic line technique that turns up across folk, pop, and jazz songwriting whenever a chord needs to feel like it is walking somewhere rather than jumping straight to the next one. From E7, that same descending motion typically continues into A, the IV chord, giving a four-chord move, E, Emaj7, E7, A, that is worth practicing slowly on its own, holding each chord for a full bar, as a way to hear what Emaj7 contributes separate from any specific song.

Warm-ups that make the movable shapes easier

The open Emaj7 shape needs very little from your hand, but the two movable voicings further up the neck ask for real finger independence, especially the full barre version's stretch across four different frets and strings at once. A minute of warm-up before working on those shapes pays for itself.

• Finger walk. Rest all four fingertips on the low E string, one fret apart starting at the 1st fret, and press each one down in order, index through pinky, then release them in the same order. Repeat this on each string. It wakes up finger independence, which the jazz voicing's spread-out fingering depends on directly.
• Ring and pinky isolation. The barre version asks your ring and pinky fingers to work independently of each other on neighboring strings, which does not come naturally to most new players. Press your ring finger down alone, release it, then press your pinky down alone, release it, and repeat five times without letting the other fingers join in.
• Open and close. Make a loose fist with your fretting hand, then spread your fingers as wide as comfortable, five times. This general hand warm-up, borrowed from typing and other repetitive-motion routines, loosens the tendons that the wider stretches in this article rely on.

None of this needs more than a minute or two, and it is worth doing before any session that focuses on the shapes further up the neck specifically, since those are the versions of this chord most likely to feel stiff on a cold hand.

Does Emaj7 feel different on a nylon-string guitar?

Yes, in two ways that pull in opposite directions. Nylon strings sit under much lower tension than steel strings, so once your three fingers are correctly placed, less force is needed to stop any of them from buzzing, which is a real advantage while your fingertips are still building calluses. Classical and nylon-string guitars also tend to have noticeably wider necks than steel-string acoustics, which gives the open low E, B, and high E strings more room to ring clearly without a neighboring finger brushing them by accident, the exact muting problem covered earlier in this article.

The trade-off is that same wider neck asks for a slightly bigger stretch between your index and ring fingers to cover the same two strings at the 1st fret, which can work against players with smaller hands even as it helps everyone avoid accidental muting. The shape, the fingers, and the frets are identical either way. Only the physical spacing changes, and it is worth expecting that difference rather than assuming something is wrong with your technique if a nylon-string neck feels wider under your hand than a steel-string one did.

Emaj7 next to Cmaj7 and Dmaj7: a family resemblance

Once you have Emaj7 under your fingers, it is worth noticing that the same basic idea, take an open major chord and shift or lift a single finger, builds several of the other common open maj7 chords too, even though the shapes themselves look nothing alike on paper.

Cmaj7's open shape is a plain C chord with the index finger lifted off the B string entirely, letting it ring open instead of fretted. Dmaj7's open shape is a plain D chord with the ring finger dropped back one fret on the high E string, from the 3rd fret to the 2nd. Emaj7 follows the exact same logic covered at the start of this article: a plain E chord with the ring finger dropped back one fret on the D string, from the 2nd fret to the 1st. Three completely different chords, three completely different-looking shapes, and the same single-finger adjustment underneath all of them.

Seeing that pattern is useful beyond satisfying curiosity. Once you know that a maj7 chord is usually its major counterpart with one note pulled a half step closer to the root, you can often guess at a reasonable open-position maj7 shape for a chord you have not specifically learned yet, by finding the note that gives the major chord its root or its most prominent open string and checking whether pulling it back a fret lands on a real, playable note. It will not always land on something as clean as these three examples, but it is a good first guess whenever a chart calls for a maj7 chord you do not already have memorized.

Where Emaj7 sits in a key

In the key of E major, Emaj7 is the tonic chord extended to a seventh, meaning it is the "home" chord of the key with an extra note stacked on top. Every major key produces the same pattern of seventh chords when you stack a 7th onto each note of the scale:

Notice that the I and IV chords in any major key both become major 7th chords when extended this way, while the V chord becomes a dominant 7th instead. That pattern holds in every major key, which is also why Emaj7 shows up as the IV chord in the key of B major, sitting one step away from B7, its own V7 chord in the table above. Recognizing Emaj7's role this way makes it far easier to guess what chord is coming next in a progression you have not seen written out.

Changing from Emaj7 to E

This is the smallest possible change available from Emaj7, since the two chords are built from the same three fingers.

Your index and middle fingers do not move at all. Only your ring finger shifts, sliding one fret further from the nut, from the 1st fret to the 2nd, on the same string. Because two of the three fingers stay completely anchored, this is one of the easiest chord changes on the guitar to play cleanly at speed once you have practiced the single ring-finger slide a few times slowly.

Changing from Emaj7 to A

A is a natural move out of Emaj7, and it shows up constantly in progressions built around E, since A is E's IV chord.

All three fretting fingers reposition, sliding from the tight cluster near the 1st and 2nd frets on the A, D, and G strings to a new cluster one fret higher, spread across the D, G, and B strings instead. The low E string, which was Emaj7's open root, needs to stop ringing once you land on A, either muted with the side of your thumb or simply left out of the strum. It is a bigger move than Emaj7 to E, so it is worth practicing on its own, slowly, landing all three new fingers together on the beat rather than one at a time.

Changing from Emaj7 to B7

B7 is Emaj7's V7 chord, the chord that wants to resolve back to E, and the two shapes share more in common than they first appear to.

Two things stay anchored: the middle finger stays planted on the A string's 2nd fret exactly as it was, and the B string keeps ringing open in both chords. What actually moves is the G string, whose note steps up one fret from Emaj7 to B7, and the high E string, which goes from open in Emaj7 to fretted at the 2nd fret in B7. Because half the shape does not move at all, this change rewards a slow, deliberate practice pass far more than it first seems to need.

Practicing the I-IV-V move on its own

Emaj7, A, and B7 together form the I, IV, and V chords of the key of E, one of the most common three-chord movements in guitar music, and it is worth drilling as its own short exercise separate from any full song.

Play each chord for a full four count, in that order, then loop back to Emaj7 and repeat. Notice how your middle finger stays on the A string for both Emaj7 and B7, which gives it a moment to act as an anchor while your other fingers reposition around it, and how the low E string needs to be kept quiet for both A and B7 after ringing freely on Emaj7. Once this three-chord loop feels automatic at a slow tempo, it covers one of the single most common chord movements in guitar music, and it transfers directly into countless songs built the same way.

Once the loop feels solid at a slow, even tempo, try speeding it up gradually rather than jumping straight to full speed. A metronome set comfortably slow, somewhere a new player can land every chord cleanly without rushing, is more useful here than ears alone, since it is easy to unconsciously slow down right at the moment your fingers reposition for A or B7 and speed back up once the shape has landed. Increase the tempo in small steps only after several clean, unhurried passes at the current speed, and drop back down a step the moment buzzing or hesitation creeps in rather than pushing through it.

Songs built around Emaj7

Fleetwood Mac's "Never Going Back Again" leans on Emaj7 directly within its fingerpicked verses, and Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely" uses it as part of its harmonic color as well. Beyond individual songs, jazz standards return again and again to progressions built on the I, vi, IV, and V chords of whatever key they are in, and in the key of E that pattern spells out as Emaj7, C#m7, Amaj7, and B7, using exactly the diatonic chords covered in the table above. A closely related version swaps the IV chord for the ii chord instead, giving Emaj7, C#m7, F#m7, B7, the same four scale degrees rearranged into a different, equally common order. Both patterns put a maj7 chord on the tonic exactly the way Emaj7 sits in the key of E, which is a large part of why this specific chord shows up so often once you start playing music with any jazz influence, whether or not the arrangement you are reading happens to sit in E itself.

Both of these songs reward a different kind of practice than most beginner chord-progression songs do. Instead of drilling a fast, clean change, they reward holding Emaj7 steady and letting its open strings ring, since the whole point of the chord in both arrangements is its sustained, unresolved color rather than a quick hand-off to whatever comes next.

Playing Emaj7 fingerstyle instead of strumming

The open Emaj7 shape works just as well plucked one note at a time as it does strummed, and its three open strings make it a natural chord to fingerpick, since half its notes need no attention from your right hand beyond plucking the correct string.

A simple pattern: thumb plays the low E string, then index, middle, and ring pluck the D, G, and B strings in order, then let the high E ring as part of the chord's overall color rather than a note in the pattern itself. Skip the A string's middle-finger note in this pattern entirely, since the open strings already supply plenty of the chord's character without it, and picking five separate strings in sequence gets crowded quickly at any real tempo.

Practice the pattern slowly, well under tempo, and say each finger's name out loud as it plays until the sequence stops needing conscious thought. Once it does, try letting the notes ring into each other slightly rather than cutting each one off cleanly, which is where Emaj7's open, sustained character really comes through.

Changing between chords is still the real skill

Every voicing and every chord change covered above eventually comes back to the same point: the Emaj7 shape itself is not the hard part, especially once you already know a plain E major chord. What takes practice is landing it cleanly at tempo, in the middle of a song, without your hand hesitating or your strum dropping out while your fingers find their spot. Treat each chord change above as its own small drill, done slowly and away from a full strum, before asking it to survive inside a real song at speed.

Common mistakes beyond buzzing

A handful of habits show up again and again with this chord specifically, separate from the fretting issues covered earlier.

Confusing it with E7 out of habit

As covered earlier, Emaj7 and E7 are one finger apart but are genuinely different chords with a different character. If a chart calls for one and you play the other out of habit, the chord will sound subtly wrong even though every finger placement felt confident. When in doubt, check whether the chart says "maj7," "M7," or a triangle symbol, all of which mean this chord, versus a bare "7," which means the bluesier dominant version instead.

Leaving the A string unfretted by accident

If your middle finger does not commit fully to the A string's 2nd fret, the string can end up open or muted instead of sounding its intended note, quietly turning the chord into something else without an obvious buzz to flag the problem. Pick the A string on its own with the chord held and confirm it rings a clear, single pitch rather than a dull thud or an open string's ring.

Treating it as a lesser version of E rather than its own chord

Emaj7 is a genuinely different chord from plain E, not a simplified stand-in for players who are not ready for the full stretch. It has its own sound, its own role in a key, and its own place in real songs, several of which are covered above. Learning it as its own chord, rather than only as a variation on E, means you will reach for it on purpose when a progression calls for its specific character.

Miscounting the fret on a movable shape

Both movable voicings covered earlier are only correct if your index finger lands on the right fret, and it is easy to be off by one when counting up an unfamiliar part of the neck. Count from the nut, not from an inlay marker you assume marks a certain fret, and double check against a known reference point, such as the 12th fret, which on almost every guitar has a distinct double-dot marker. Landing a fret off turns Emaj7 into a different maj7 chord entirely, one that will sound merely "wrong" rather than obviously broken, which makes the mistake harder to catch by ear alone than an outright buzz.

A practice routine for today

Fifteen focused minutes is enough to make real progress on this chord, in keeping with the idea behind practicing guitar in short daily sessions rather than occasional long ones.

1. Two minutes: form the Emaj7 shape from nothing, five separate times, resetting your hand fully between each one. Check the shape first, the sound second.
2. Three minutes: strum the chord slowly, all six strings, and pick the A string on its own if anything sounds muted, using the troubleshooting section above to diagnose it.
3. Five minutes: practice one chord change, Emaj7 to E first since it only moves one finger, or Emaj7 to A once that feels solid. Change on a slow, steady four-count, no strumming in between, just the new shape landing cleanly on the beat.
4. Five minutes: alternate between E and Emaj7 on every other beat, sliding only your ring finger between the two frets each time. This single-finger drill builds the exact habit that keeps the two chords from blurring into each other later.

Repeat this most days rather than saving it for one long weekly session. A shape this size is built through frequent, short repetition, since your hand is learning a physical position, not memorizing a fact.

FAQ

What notes are in an Emaj7 chord? E, G#, B, and D#. E is the root, G# is the major 3rd, B is the perfect 5th, and D# is the major 7th, the note that gives the chord its distinctive open, slightly unresolved character compared to plain E major.

Is Emaj7 harder or easier than a plain E chord? About the same, and arguably easier once you know E major already, since the shape is identical except for the ring finger sitting one fret closer to the nut. The one-finger version covered earlier is genuinely easier than either the Emaj7 or E major full shapes.

What is the difference between Emaj7 and E7? One finger on one string. Emaj7 frets the D string at the 1st fret for D#, the major 7th, while E7 leaves that same string open for D natural, the flat 7th. That single difference is also the difference between a soft, settled-sounding chord and a bluesy, unresolved one that wants to move somewhere else.

Can I use Emaj7 instead of a plain E chord in a song? Often, yes, especially in acoustic, pop, and jazz-influenced songs where the extra warmth of the major 7th fits the mood. It changes the character of the chord, though, so it is worth listening for whether the song wants that softer, more open color or the brighter, more resolved sound of plain E before swapping one for the other.

Why is it written "Emaj7" instead of just "E7"? Because "E7" already refers to a different chord, the dominant 7th version with a flattened 7th note. Writing "maj7," "M7," or the triangle symbol used in some jazz notation makes it explicit that the 7th is major, not flattened, so the two chords are never confused on a chart.

Do I have to fret the A string on every version of Emaj7? No. The one-finger version covered earlier mutes the A string entirely and is still a complete, correct Emaj7, since the chord's other four notes, including a doubled 5th from the open B string, are already present without it.

What songs use Emaj7? Fleetwood Mac's "Never Going Back Again" and Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely" both use it directly. It also turns up constantly in jazz standards, since the maj7 chord built on a key's tonic note is one of the most common chords in that style of songwriting.

Is Emaj7 the same as E major 7th, EM7, or EΔ7? Yes. All four are different ways of writing the identical chord: E, G#, B, and D#. Chord charts and lead sheets vary in which notation they use, but none of them represent a different chord from the others.

What chord is Emaj7 the IV of? B major. In the key of B, the IV chord extended to a seventh is Emaj7, which sits next to B7, the V7 chord of that same key. This is separate from Emaj7's more common role as the I chord in the key of E itself, covered earlier in this article.

Do I need big hands to play Emaj7? No. The open shape's three fingers sit within a single fret of each other for two of them, and the third is only one fret further along, which makes it one of the more compact four-note open chords rather than one that demands an unusually wide stretch. The one-finger version covered near the start of this article needs even less reach.

Does the open Emaj7 shape ever use the pinky finger? No. The standard open shape uses only the index, middle, and ring fingers, leaving the pinky free. The pinky only comes into play on the two movable voicings further up the neck, where it takes the highest of the four fretted notes in both the jazz voicing and the full barre version.