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Guitar scale

A major scale

The A major scale is the bright, resolved sound at the centre of Western music, and the reference every other scale is measured against. Best for melody, songwriting, everything else.

By Chiye · Updated · Counts from the 104 song sheets on openguitarchords.com

Root
A
Notes
ABC#DEF#G#
Formula
W-W-H-W-W-W-H
Relative key
F# natural minor
Learning path
Step 2 of 5
123456789101112131415EADGBeEF#G#ABC#DEF#ABC#DEF#G#ABDEF#G#ABC#DEG#ABC#DEF#G#ABC#DEF#G#ABC#DEF#G#ABC#DEF#
All 15 frets, high e string on top. Orange marks an A root, the box is the one position to start with, and fret 0 is an open string.
Print or save the A major chart
A major scale chart: every note from fret 0 to 15 across all six strings, root notes marked in orange

940 × 230 px version of the chart above, sized for a phone screen or a printed handout. Tap the image to save it.

The A major scale is the seven notes A, B, C#, D, E, F# and G#. Read as scale degrees from A, that is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Every note is a fixed distance from the one before it: W-W-H-W-W-W-H, where W is a whole step (2 frets) and H is a half step (1 fret). That pattern is the whole scale. Move it so the root lands on a different note and you are playing that key's major scale. The scale supplies the chords of its key: A (I), Bm (ii), C#m (iii), D (IV), E (V), F#m (vi), G#dim (vii°). Its relative key is F# natural minor, which uses exactly the same notes. What changes is the note that feels like home. On the guitar this is not one shape but overlapping positions: the lowest A sits at fret 0 on the A string. 8 of the 104 song sheets charted here are in A.

Start here: one A major position

The notes inside frets 0 to 4 sit in the highlighted box above. The diagram below isolates that position and numbers the run to play. Learn this box first; other positions contain the same scale notes with different fingerings.

Play the box in this order

1234EADGBeEF#G#ABBC#DEF#G#1234567
Numbers 1 to 7 are the playing order, one note at a time. Letters are the other A major notes in this position; orange letters are roots.

A 1 → B 2 → C# 3 → D 4 → E 5 → F# 6 → G# 7

Plays exactly the run numbered above, one note at a time.

Every A on the neck

low Efret 5
Aopen
Dfret 7
Gfret 2
Bfret 10
high Efret 5

What notes are in the A major scale?

  1. A1Root
  2. W
  3. B2Major 2nd
  4. W
  5. C#3Major 3rd
  6. H
  7. D4Perfect 4th
  8. W
  9. E5Perfect 5th
  10. W
  11. F#6Major 6th
  12. W
  13. G#7Major 7th
  14. H
  15. A1octave

W whole step (2 frets), H half step (1 fret). The same pattern from any other root gives that key's major scale.

Chords in the key of A major

Every chord below is built from the notes of this scale, so a song in A major uses almost nothing else. Together they account for 626 chord changes in the library, counted, not estimated.

I134 usesAA C# Eii84 usesBmB D F#iii3 usesC#mC# E G#IV323 usesDD F# AV69 usesEE G# Bvi13 usesF#mF# A C#vii°unused hereG#dim all rootsG# B D

How to practise the A major scale

  1. Frets 0 to 4, slowly. The position above, up and back, naming every note out loud. Naming is what turns a shape into a scale.
  2. Then find the next A: low E string, fret 5. Use the full neck diagram to find the scale notes around that root. Play root to root at 60 BPM, one note per beat; fingerings change when you move to a different string set.
  3. Then stop counting. Pick a song in A from the list below and improvise on these notes for two minutes. That is what the scale is for.

Songs in A on this site

8 of the 104 song sheets charted here are in A. Play this scale over any of them and every note lands inside the key.

ASomewhere Only We KnowKeaneAStand By MeBen E. KingAThe WeightThe BandAWagon WheelOld Crow Medicine ShowASomeone Like YouAdeleAHere Comes the SunThe BeatlesAllEvery song sheet
What the library actually plays in A majorCounted from the progressions written out in the song sheets charted here, not derived from theory. Only three-chord runs that stay inside the A major scale are shown.
Run #1
A → E → Eplayed 18 times
Run #2
A → Bm → Dplayed 16 times
Run #3
Bm → A → Eplayed 16 times

A major scale: common questions

What notes are in the A major scale?
The A major scale is A, B, C#, D, E, F# and G#. Counting from the root A, the degrees are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
What is the formula for the A major scale?
The step pattern is W-W-H-W-W-W-H. Read left to right from A: whole step (2 frets), then whole step (2 frets), then half step (1 fret), then whole step (2 frets), then whole step (2 frets), then whole step (2 frets), then half step (1 fret). Apply the same pattern from any other note and you get that note's major scale.
What chords are in the key of A major?
The seven diatonic chords are A (I), Bm (ii), C#m (iii), D (IV), E (V), F#m (vi), G#dim (vii°). Across the 104 song sheets on this site those chords appear 626 times in total.
Is the A major scale the same as F# natural minor?
Yes. A major and F# natural minor contain exactly the same notes: A, B, C#, D, E, F# and G#. They are relative keys. Centre the melody on A and it sounds like A major; centre it on F# and the same notes sound like F# natural minor.
What is the easiest fingering for the A major scale?
The position above starts on the A string at fret 0 and stays inside frets 0 to 4: A at fret 0 on the A, then B at fret 2 on the A, then C# at fret 4 on the A, then D at fret 0 on the D, then E at fret 2 on the D, then F# at fret 4 on the D, then G# at fret 1 on the G. Everything else on the neck is the same notes repeated in other positions.
How do I practise the A major scale?
Play frets 0 to 4 up and back, naming each note. Then locate A at fret 5 on the low E string. Use the neck diagram to learn that position, rather than copying the same grip across strings. Practise at 60 BPM.

More A scales

A natural minorA major pentatonicA minor pentatonicA blues

This scale in other keys

C majorC# majorD majorEb majorE majorF majorF# majorG majorAll 60 scale charts
Previous keyAb bluesNext keyA natural minor