A Chord Guitar A Chord #1 A Chord #2 A Barre Chord
The A Major guitar chord is a staple of the instrument -- and of many popular musical genres you'll be tackling on your way to guitar mastery. You'll be encountering this chord again and again, so today, we're going to be showing you the most common way to play it, a few variations that will allow you to play the chord in different positions on the fretboard, and some tips that will help these chords sound their best.
The most common version of the A Major you'll come across is in open position near the top of the guitar, like this:
It's a simple configuration, but with all your notes being bunched together on the 2nd fret like that, you'll have to work hard at compressing your fingers to fit the tight space. What can help, however, is mastering the art of playing chords with your fingertips.
This will allow you to come down at a 90-degree angle, touching the strings only at the point you need and not obstructing your other fingers as you play.
Now, this isn't the only way to play an A Major chord. If you decide you want to mix things up in open position at the top of the fretboard, you can try this more complicated variant of the chord:
This is a big stretch, obviously, so if you have smaller hands you might not be able to pull it off.
You might instead try this variation near the 4th fret:
Finally, we can't forget the bar chord version of A Major, on the 5th fret:
There are even more variations of A Major that you can learn, and each will give you the ability to play the chord in a slightly different position on the fretboard. This will come in handy when moving around playing more complicated tunes. Good luck, and as always, happy practicing!
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