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Chords - key of A

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by David OToole

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    • Tags:  Chords, Key of A

      A is a very popular guitar key with the 3 main chords A D E - which are easy to play, and all feature the open strings. This gives the key a very full sound on the guitar. There's more songs out there in A than you can shake a stick!

    Main Video

    Here is the Key of A Ascending:

    A _ Bm _ C#m _ D _ E _ F#m _ G#m7b5 _ A

    Note: 'Sharp' = up a fret (towards the body), b = down a fret towards the nut

    There are 3 #'s (sharp) chords in the key of A. Each key has a different anount of sharp chords going from 0 up.

    Here is a complete list of keys and how many flats/sharps and which notes are flat/sharp. You'll come across this type of theory if you want to read music. It's useful to know these basics whether you read music or not. It's needed for building more advanced chords later on.

    As recommended before, if you need a hand on this type of stuff, check out GMC's very own Theory Master, Sir Andrew Cockburn. Ok I made up the 'Sir' bit, but he should be knighted for explaining theory so well :).

    Starting with the key of 'C' we have no sharps or flats:

    Key No. of sharps Sharps

    C 0 (none)
    G 1 F#
    D 2 F#, C#
    A 3 F#, C#, G#
    E 4 F#, C#, G#, D#
    B 5 F#, C#, G#, D#, A#
    F# 6 F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#
    C# 7 F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#, B#

    Key No. of flats Flats

    C 0 (none)
    F 1 Bb
    Bb 2 Bb, Eb
    Eb 3 Bb, Eb, Ab
    Ab 4 Bb, Eb, Ab, Db
    Db 5 Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb
    Gb 6 Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb
    Cb 7 Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb, Fb

    Remember that all of the info in this series applies to EVERY chord group. We are just covering the most commonly used keys on guitar and not getting too deep into the sharp and flat keys and territories.

    But on that note, a little useful trick is to think in terms of numbers where possible rather than chord names, sharps and flats, and it will save you a lot of musical headaches!

    Video Chord Arrangement

    A _ D _ E _ F#m _ Bm _ C#m _ G#m7b5 _ A
    1 ..4 . 5 . 6 ... 5 .. 3 ... 7 .......8

    A Fam.gif

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