GUILLORY GUITAR SCHOOL
THE "E" SHAPE
The most popular guitar chord in the world covers two octaves and produces a root position triad on strings 4, 3, & 2.  From the 6th string upwards the first four intervals are: Root, Fifth, root & major third.  This exact voicing is repeated one fourth higher in the "A" shape on strings 5 to 2, and another fourth higher on strings 4  to 1  in the "D" shape.
 

These diagrams show fingerings for the E shape.  The same voicings as an open E major but playable anywhere.  The roots on the 6th and 1st strings should be barred with the first finger, but using the thumb on the 6th string, and the first finger over strings 1 to 4, is also very popular as simply removing the second finger flattens the third, and  removing the third finger produces a dominant seventh. Hammering up to the major-third with the second finger on the 3rd string is as much a signature of this shape as the solid fifths on the bottom two strings.

 

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