Learn how to play the easy basic beginner guitar chord A Major with this free tutorial.
This chord does give some guitarists a bit of trouble, because all three fingers have to fit on the second fret on the second, third and fourth strings. This can be particularly difficult for those of us with larger fingers.
Below are three different versions of the A Major Chord . Learn all three versions to see which version is most comfortable for you. See the chord charts below to learn how to play this chord.
Make certain you are only strumming the first five strings as indicated in the diagram below. The Low E string is not played. Some guitarists will hang their thumb over the top of the neck of the guitar and mute the sixth string.
If you are unable to mute or avoid playing the Low E string, it really isn’t a big deal as the “E” note is part of this chord, so it won’t sound bad. The only difference with playing the low E string with this chord, is that the “A” is no longer the root or bass note of the chord. When this happens, the chord is known as an “inversion”, which means we are just changing the order of the notes a little.
A Major Chord Notes: A C# E
Video Demonstration
Additional Resources
Follow this link for more (Advanced) ways to play the A Major Guitar Chord
Follow this link for more easy beginner guitar chords
Warren Latham on Mon, 17th Aug 2009 2:53 pm
Thanks very much for the opportunity to take the free
lessons. I have a guitar, but I can’t afford to take
lessons at the present.
Warren
Alex on Sat, 30th Jan 2010 6:48 pm
thanks now its easier for me to learn the chords
austin on Mon, 29th Mar 2010 10:33 pm
this might sound dorkey but thanks for teaching how to read the charts and stuff. i dont know much bout guitar but im in a school band and play tuba/sousafone(gods gift to marching band). so i know what quarternotes,rests,cresendos and all that stuff means and if anyone one needs help with any of that you can usually reach me a donaldmcbrayer@rocketmail.com. well thanks again
todd on Tue, 27th Dec 2011 4:23 am
Thanks!!! My fingers were too big to fit. Now I see that I can barre the notes and get A major.
oscar soto on Wed, 23rd Jan 2013 9:25 pm
Thank you, now I get it, Iam practicing it and I hope to continue to the next chord