A major chord
Home in A major, and the V that pulls toward D.
- How it sounds
- Bright and settled. A to C♯ is four frets, and that gap gives it its warmth, while E on top holds it steady. It has an open grip, the A form, with two open strings ringing.
- Where it lives
- The I of A major, the IV of E major and the V of D major. In A major it’s home; in D major it pulls the song back to D. In D harmonic minor it’s the V, and its third, C♯, is the raised seventh that leads back to D. Rock, blues and country, where the open A string makes it one of the easiest keys on the guitar.
Voicings across the neck
A, C♯ and E can be played in five places on the neck, each built from a different open chord shape. Neighbouring forms share a root, so each one hands over to the next, and together they run from the nut to the 12th fret before the cycle starts again. The open A form rings the most. The E form at the 5th fret is the fullest barre, all six strings. The D form at the 7th uses only the top four, which keeps it small and bright and easy to hear over a band.
- High E string: E at fret 0
- B string: C♯ at fret 2
- G string: A at fret 2
- D string: E at fret 2
- A string: A at fret 0
- Low E string: not played
- High E string: A at fret 5
- B string: C♯ at fret 2
- G string: A at fret 2
- D string: E at fret 2
- A string: C♯ at fret 4
- Low E string: A at fret 5
- High E string: A at fret 5
- B string: E at fret 5
- G string: C♯ at fret 6
- D string: A at fret 7
- A string: E at fret 7
- Low E string: A at fret 5
- High E string: C♯ at fret 9
- B string: A at fret 10
- G string: E at fret 9
- D string: A at fret 7
- A string: not played
- Low E string: not played
- High E string: C♯ at fret 9
- B string: A at fret 10
- G string: E at fret 9
- D string: C♯ at fret 11
- A string: A at fret 12
- Low E string: not played
Formula
| Intervals | Notes | Semitones |
|---|---|---|
| R · M3 · P5: what each interval does in a chord | A · C♯ · E | 4 + 3 |
A major is a root, a major third and a perfect fifth: A, C♯ and E, taken from the A major scale by skipping every other note. Four then three is what makes a chord major. Turn the gaps round, three then four, and you get A minor: A, C, E.
In these keys and scales
A major turns up in twelve scales on the site, and the job it does depends on the scale. In A major it’s the I, home. In D major and D harmonic minor it’s the V, the chord that pulls back home. In F♯ minor it’s the III, the relative major inside the minor key, and as the VI of C♯ minor it’s a warm step away from home. The numeral beside each scale names the job, and the name opens that scale’s page.
| Family | Scales |
|---|---|
| Major | |
| Natural minor | |
| Harmonic minor | |
| Melodic minor | |
| Pentatonic |
Progressions
A lot of progressions in A major start on A, and nearly all of them come back to it. In I–IV–V the other two chords keep returning to it. In I–V–vi–IV it opens the loop, and D at the end leads back round to it. V–I turns it the other way: there A is the V, and it resolves to D.