PlayPiano

A major chord

The three notes, the three ways to stack them and which fingers to use.

The short answer

The notes of the A major chord are A, C sharp and E.

On the keys

Keyboard with A, C sharp and E markedAEC♯

Yellow is the root, the note the chord is named after.

On the staff

Treble and bass staves showing the A major chord in root position: A, C sharp and E

The A major chord in root position. The treble clef is the right hand; the bass clef is the same chord an octave lower for the left.

Inversions

An inversion keeps the same three notes and changes which one is lowest. The A major chord has a root position and two inversions, and all three still sound as A major.

  1. Root positionA C♯ Eright hand 1 3 5, left hand 5 3 1
  2. First inversionC♯ E Aright hand 1 2 5, left hand 5 3 1
  3. Second inversionE A C♯right hand 1 3 5, left hand 5 2 1

Keep going

A major scale

The scale this chord is built on: A, B, C sharp, D, E, F sharp and G sharp.

F sharp minor chord

The relative minor shares the same key signature as A major.

A minor chord

Same root, one note different: the third moves a semitone down.

Questions

How do you build an A major chord?

Start on A, add the major third (four semitones) above it, which is C sharp, then the perfect fifth above the root (seven semitones), which is E.

How many inversions does an A major chord have?

Two: first inversion puts C sharp at the bottom and second inversion puts E at the bottom. With root position that makes three ways to play the same chord.

Practise A major and the chords around it in PlayPiano, a piano practice app for iPhone and iPad.

Play it in the app