A Major is one of the most popular guitar chords in music, found in countless songs in just about every genre.

In this free guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play the A major guitar chord, all chords in the key of A major, as well as several songs and chord progressions to practice A Major to.

How to Play the A Major Guitar Chord

If the chart above is confusing to you, check out our lesson on How to Read Guitar Chord Diagrams.

For A Major, strum every string except the low E string.

A Major Guitar Chord Fingering:

• Second (Middle) Finger frets the second fret of the D string
• Third (Ring) finger frets the second fret of the G string
• Fourth (Pinky) finger plays the second fret of the B string

A Major Guitar Chord Alternate Fingering:

• First (Index) Finger barres across the second fret of the D, G and B strings

The A Major chord can also be played with your first through third fingers, as opposed to your second through fourth fingers.

Choose the most comfortable fingering while learning it, then learn alternate fingerings down the road.

A major can be a tricky one for beginners since the notes are all right next to each other. Experimenting with different fingerings for this chord will help you find what’s most comfortable and also help you have smoother chord transitions.

Learn more about how different fingerings for the same chord can improve your transitions in my lesson: Guitar Chord Transition Exercises.

Popular A Major Chord Progressions

Chords in the Key of A Major

The guitar chords in the key of A major are simply based on the notes of the A Major scale.

A Major

B Minor

C# Minor

D Major

E Major

F# Minor

G# Dim.

Learn more about the key of A Major here.

Popular Songs to Practice A Major

What to Learn Next

Basic Guitar Chords for Beginners

C Major chord

Easy Ways to Learn Guitar Chords