A guitar chord
A major. Notes: A C♯ E.01
BeginnerEasy shape
Open position · Open & warm
Stack three fingers just behind the second fret.
String by string, low to high
- Low E muted: don’t play it
- A open (A)
- D fret 2, finger 1 (E)
- G fret 2, finger 2 (A)
- B fret 2, finger 3 (C♯)
- High E open (E)
02
HardHarder shape
E-shape · fret 5 · Full & movable
Root on the 6th string at fret 5. Set your first finger across fret 5 first, then add the others.
String by string, low to high
- Low E fret 5, finger 1 (A)
- A fret 7, finger 3 (E)
- D fret 7, finger 4 (A)
- G fret 6, finger 2 (C♯)
- B fret 5, finger 1 (E)
- High E fret 5, finger 1 (A)
Hear it, then check it
Chordbyte plays this shape, then listens through your microphone and marks each string that rang, came out quiet, or should have been muted. It runs in your browser: free, no account, nothing recorded or sent.
Open A in Chordbyte03
Practise changing to A
Four-chord progressions with A in them. Each opens in Chordbyte with a metronome, a play-along and a one-minute changes drill.
- D major, I–V–vi–IV: D A Bm GAs in “Let It Be” by The Beatles.
- D major, I–vi–IV–V: D Bm G AAs in “Stand by Me” by Ben E. King.
- D major, vi–IV–I–V: Bm G D AAs in “Zombie” by The Cranberries.
- D major, I–IV–V–I: D G A DAs in “La Bamba” by Ritchie Valens (the same I, IV and V).
- D major, I–ii–IV–V: D Em G A
- D major, I–IV–I–V: D G D AAs in “Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison (verse).
- A major, I–V–vi–IV: A E F♯m DAs in “Let It Be” by The Beatles.
- A major, I–vi–IV–V: A F♯m D EAs in “Stand by Me” by Ben E. King.
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