Major key
A major
Its seven chords: A, Bm, C♯m, D, E, F♯m, G♯dim.
- A1
- B2
- C♯3
- D4
- E5
- F♯6
- G♯7
- I–V–vi–IV
- A
- E
- F♯m
- D
- ii7–V7–Imaj7
- Bm7
- E7
- Amaj7
- I–IV–V
- A
- D
- E
- vi–IV–I–V
- F♯m
- D
- A
- E
- I–vi–IV–V
- A
- F♯m
- D
- E
- I–V–vi–iii–IV–I–IV–V
- A
- E
- F♯m
- C♯m
- D
- A
- D
- E
About A major
The scale of A major runs A – B – C♯ – D – E – F♯ – G♯, and the key has 3♯ in the signature (F♯, C♯, G♯). Those seven notes are the raw material of everything on this page: each chord below is stacked from them alone, which is why the chords of A major fit together so naturally.
Most music in A major leans on three chords: A (home), D (moving away) and E (tension that wants to come home). Add the three minor chords of the key and you have six chords that cover almost every simple song; the seventh, G♯dim, is used as a passing chord.
A major shares every note with F sharp minor, its relative key, so the two have the same signature and the same seven chords. If the chords of a piece fit both lists, listen for the chord it starts and ends on to decide which key you are in. Not to be confused with A minor, the parallel key on the same home note.
Its closest neighbours are E major, one fifth higher, and D major, one fifth lower. Each differs from A major by a single note, which is why a short trip to one of them, a modulation, sounds so smooth. The dominant seventh of the key is E7.
Barre chords make A major harder on guitar, but a capo on fret 2 turns the chords into the easy shapes G, Am, Bm, C, D, Em, which is how many guitarists play in this key.
A good way to learn A major: play the chords up the scale, then pick two progressions from this page and loop them for a few minutes with a metronome, first at 60 BPM, then faster.