How to Play the A Chord on Guitar: 3 Easy Ways

The A chord on guitar is very common. It’s one of those chords that pops up again and again, in all styles of music. In this free lesson you will learn:

• How to play the A chord on guitar correctly
• The best A chord for beginner guitarists to use
• The 2 Most Important Tips For Mastering An A Chord on Guitar
• 2 bonus tricks you can use to make your A chords sound better

Over 200,000 guitar-learners get our first guitar tips & tutorials sent neat to their inbox : Click here to join them

Mastering The A Chord On Guitar

The entire name of the A chord is “ A Major ”, but most people just call it “ A ”. In it ’ s full shape the A harmonize on guitar looks like this :

A Major

( If you do n’t understand the above image please read our article “ How To Read Guitar Chordboxes In 60 Seconds “. It will make everything clean ! )

Playing an A chord on guitar is relatively straightforward ( compared to some other chords, such as F ), but it still presents a boastfully challenge to the absolute guitar novice .
So what can you do to promptly learn how to play the A chord on guitar ?

2 Important Tips For Playing The A Chord On Guitar

• Compress your fingers together as much as possible – try to form them into 1 ‘block’ that you can fret as a single movement.
• It is essential that you play with your fingertips (the very ends of your fingers – just below your fingernails). Do not use the ‘pads’ of your fingers (where your fingerprints are). Your fingertips need to make contact with the fretboard at a 90-degree angle.

Learn the 12 EASIEST beginner chords with our famous FREE guide

✓ Stop contend. Start making music .
✓ Learn 12 beginner-friendly versions of every chord .
✓ This is our most popular scout and it will improve your harmonize ability promptly .

Easy ways to play the A chord on guitar

I tell my new students to play an easier interpretation of A, merely to get them started. This very easy chord is called “ Asus2 ” and it looks like this :

Asus2

This is a fabulous version of A to learn and it acts as an excellent stepping stone towards playing the fully A chord .

The Best Easy Versions Of This Chord

Another way to play the A chord

Another alternate version of the A chord on guitar is “ A7 ”. This is a relatively easy chord to play and has an interesting ( and much stronger ) sound than Asus2 .

A7

This harmonize works peculiarly well for rock, blues and jazz.

2 bonus tips to use when playing A chords

Remember that careless of what translation of A chord you play, you should alone play strings 1-5. String 6 should not be played ! Let ’ s have a agile refresher on string numbers :

Don ’ t ever be tempted to play Am ( pronounce “ A minor ” ) or Am7 ( pronounced “ A minor 7 ” ) rather of the A chords above. A minor has a very different good to A !

The most common types of A chord.

The most common barred A chords

( This is more for intermediate and gain guitarists, so don ’ thymine worry if you can ’ thymine act these yet ! )

Here are some other cool-sounding A chords
.

What Type of Guitarist Are You?

Take our 60-second quiz & get your results : Take The Quiz

Want free guitar tips and video lessons delivered to your inbox?

Join over 200,000 other guitar learners and subscribe to our guitar-tips-by-email service. (It’s free.)
We ‘ll send you a series of lessons that will move you to the adjacent level of your guitar travel .
Learn how everything fits together quickly, easily and efficaciously. We partake ninja tips ( for blink of an eye fun ! ) but besides dateless fundamentals that will deepen your understand .

Popular Lessons

How To Learn Guitar : An 11-Step Programme For Beginners
10 easily Songs For Beginners
How To Strum A Guitar
How To Choose The Perfect Beginner Guitar
Guitar Notes Explained : A Guide For Beginners
How To Play Lead Guitar
3 Easy Ways To Play Bm

More Cool Guitar Stuff

Learn about the National Guitar Academy : About Us
Visit our YouTube groove for fun guitar video .
Join us on Facebook for daily guitar tips.

Listen to our Learn Guitar Podcast for rapid guitar progress .
Check out our complimentary chord lessons .