A Major Scale on Guitar: Notes and Chords

A major has three sharps: F#, C#, and G#.

Compared to the notes in C, you have three notes different.

Skip to what you need

• A major scale
• Useful shapes for A major scale
• Open position
• Over two octaves
• Chords in A major scale
• Some theory
• Common chords in A
• Common progressions
• Trivia
• FAQs
• Where to go from here

A major scale

A major scale is: A - B - C# - D - E - F# - G#

Something I find interesting is - five of the six open strings (in standard tuning) are in A major. Only the G string needs adjustment. The third string becomes G# (1st fret) if you want to play it like such. Everything else rings open.

A. B. C#. D. E. F#. G#.

Then back to A an octave higher on the eighth note. If you go higher or lower, you get the same sequence, just higher or lower.

I think the most useful shape for the A major scale is Root A at low E string 5th fret; its used very commonly in rock and blues. Here's the one-octave shape.

Try playing with the backing track.

Useful shapes for A major scale

Open position

Starting from the open A string is a good idea. You can noodle around with open chords in this scale.

Over two octaves

Fully movable, useful as always.

Chords in A major scale

Some theory

Exactly the same as other major scales. You stack notes to get chords. A major is A B C# D E F# G#.

1st, 3rd, 5th: A, C#, E. That's A major.

A - C# - E = A Major

If you lower the third (which is what makes a chord major/minor), you get A minor. It's not in the A major scale.

Common chords in A

A - C# - E = A Major

B - D - F# = B Minor

C# - E - G# = C# Minor

D - F# - A = D Major

E - G# - B = E Major

F# - A - C# = F# Minor

G# - B - D = G# Diminished

Good idea to get used to A, D, E, and F#m. G#dim is not common.

The relative minor of A major scale is the F# minor scale. What that means is - both have the same exact notes. If you play over A major track and focus on A, that's A major; if you play same notes over F# minor track and focus on F# instead, you're in F# minor. Simple as that.

Resolving to F#m instead of A is also a good way to sound darker.

Here's how to play them.

Common progressions

A, D, E, and F#m are the I, IV, V and vi in the key of A.

• Pop Loop (I - V - vi - IV): A major → E major → F# minor → D major

• The 50s Doo-Wop (I - vi - IV - V): A major → F# minor → D major → E major

• Moody Ballad (vi - IV - I - V): F# minor → D major → A major → E major

• Royal Road (IV - V - iii - vi): D major → E major → C# minor → F# minor

Trivia

When I was starting to learn guitar, I didn't realise that playing guitar and singing are two very different things. I picked a song in A, learned the chords. It was something like A Bmin D E, so I ii IV V.

The song was in 4/4. The changes weren't tricky. But when I tried singing along, I realised I couldn't. The song was too high for me.

I'm a baritone (I realised later; I can sing normally around C - F/F#) and my voice does't go that high. It wasn't until I learned to transpose between keys that I tried the song again.

FAQs

What notes are in the A major scale? The notes in the A major scale are A, B, C#, D, E, F#, and G#; seven notes with three sharps (C#, F#, G#). It is the relative major of F# minor.

What chords are in the A major scale? The diatonic chords in A major are A (I), Bm (ii), C#m (iii), D (IV), E (V), F#m (vi), and G#dim (vii°). The most common progression is A-D-E-F#m, or I-IV-V-vi.

Why is A major popular for guitar? A major is one of the most-played guitar keys because its I, IV, and V chords: A, D, and E - are all easy open chords.

Can you transpose a song from A to another key? Yes. A song in A (for example A F#m D E, or I-vi-IV-V) keeps the same relationships in any key: in G it becomes G Em C D, in C it becomes C Am F G. Transposing helps when the original key is too high or too low for your voice.

What is the relative minor of A major? The relative minor of A major is F# minor. Both share the exact same notes; A major starts on A, F# minor starts on the sixth degree, F#. Playing the A major scale from F# to F# gives you F# natural minor.

Where to go from here

Congrats! On a keyboard, A major scale would be played with three black keys, but we don't care about that on the guitar!

Practice changing between the I IV V and vi chords in the scale - A D E F#min.

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