Guitar For Kids -- The A Chord

Hey gang...

Hey gang...

Well, we learned all about the C chord, the G chord and the D chord. We learned that chords have a root, a 3rd and a 5th, and that they are built in 3rds. We know that basic chords have formulas -- for a major chord that formula is R + M3 + m3. and for a minor chord, the formula is R + m3 + M3.

We learned that a major 3rd is equal to 4 half-steps, and minor 3rd is 3 half-steps. And... We learned how to use the Chromatic Scale to help us figure out the notes for these chords using those 2 intervals.

Great! So let's learn about another chord -- The A chord. It's a major chord, right? So that means the formula is gonna be R + M3 + m3. Alright, let's do this...

The root for the A chord is... A. Right? So what's the 3rd?

A A#/Bb B C C#/Db D D#/Eb E F F#/Gb G G#/Ab A

Answer: C# -- This is a major 3rd or 4 half-steps up from A.

Why C# and NOT Db? Because we can't skip the "C" in the musical alphabet. Remember?

A B C D E F G A

R 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Ok. So we need the 5th. We need to go up a minor 3rd from C#.

Answer: E

So... The A chord is A C# E

Wait a minute! Let's take a look at that musical alphabet again:

A B C D E F G A

R 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

If ya haven't already figured this out, you can actually use this to tell you the letter names for the root, the 3rd and the 5th. Then it's only a matter of whether there are any sharps (#), or flats (b). The Chromatic Scale will give you the answer to that when you use the formula.

So let's look at the chord fingering for A. The high "E" is on the right.

[ 0 0 2 2 2 0 ]

The high E string is open, so there's an E.

The 2nd string has the 3rd finger on the 2nd fret -- that's a C#.

The 3rd string has the 1st finger on the 2nd fret. This is an A.

The 4th string has the 2nd finger on the 2nd fret. This is an E.

The 5th string is an open A, and the 6th string is an open E.

So the notes from high to low are:

E C# A E A E

So, that's the A chord. A, C# and E are the only notes in the chord. There's more than one way to play this chord, but it will always be A C# E.

That's all for now!

Professor Bruno Noteworthy

by: Professor Bruno Noteworthy: Toon Music Professor

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