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. There’s no open grip. The lowest of its five grips is the G form, at the 1st fret.
- 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 C♯ harmonic minor it’s the V, and its third, B♯, is the raised seventh that leads back to C♯. In C♯ harmonic minor the same chord is written G♯. Gospel and soul, where pianists often play in A♭, and jazz. Guitarists usually meet it as a barre at the 4th fret.
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 1st to the 14th fret before the cycle starts again. The E form at the 4th fret is the fullest barre, all six strings. The D form at the 6th uses only the top four, which keeps it small and light.
- High E string: A♭ at fret 4
- B string: C at fret 1
- G string: A♭ at fret 1
- D string: E♭ at fret 1
- A string: C at fret 3
- Low E string: A♭ at fret 4
- High E string: A♭ at fret 4
- B string: E♭ at fret 4
- G string: C at fret 5
- D string: A♭ at fret 6
- A string: E♭ at fret 6
- Low E string: A♭ at fret 4
- High E string: C at fret 8
- B string: A♭ at fret 9
- G string: E♭ at fret 8
- D string: A♭ at fret 6
- A string: not played
- Low E string: not played
- High E string: C at fret 8
- B string: A♭ at fret 9
- G string: E♭ at fret 8
- D string: C at fret 10
- A string: A♭ at fret 11
- Low E string: not played
- High E string: E♭ at fret 11
- B string: C at fret 13
- G string: A♭ at fret 13
- D string: E♭ at fret 13
- A string: A♭ at fret 11
- 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♭, the same chord as G♯m.
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 C♯ harmonic minor (written G♯ there) 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♭.