This guide covers everything you might want to know about the A Major scale including common open chords, note positions on a fretboard diagram, popular songs in A Major, and more.
These resources are based on having your guitar in standard tuning. Read this guide on Alternate Guitar Tunings if you want to try something different.
I suggest learning the A Major scale after you memorize the D Major scale, because changing from D Major to A Major only needs you to change one note.
The Chromatic Scale
Note: the resources here are helpful, but they should only be a starting point for your practice. Once you memorize these notes on your fretboard, you won’t need to use the resources found in this guide. Find out how to memorize the notes on the fretboard here using effective methods that don’t require much time or effort.
For every Major scale in music, there is what we call a ‘relative’ minor. A ‘relative’ scale is one that uses the same notes but is used in different ways. This means for every Major scale, there is a minor scale using the same notes.
The A Major scale and the F# minor scale both use the exact same notes. The main difference between the two (to keep things simple) is the root note of each scale. In the A Major scale, the root note is ‘A’. In the F# minor scale, the root note is ‘F#’.
C Major Scale: Fretboard Diagrams, Chords, Notes And Charts
Once you learn some basic music theory you will understand how two different scales can use the same notes, but for now, all you need to do is remember that both A Major and F# minor scales use the same notes.
This means you can use all the diagrams, exercises, and chords covered in this guide for both the A Major scale and the F# minor scale.
Even if you don’t know how to read music, if you see a key signature with three sharp symbols, it means the music is in A Major (or F# minor). Find out how to read standard notation in this guide.
Types Of Major Scales
As you can see, it’s the exact same notes as the A Major scale. The F# minor scale starts on ‘F#’ (called the root note) and the A Major scale starts on ‘A’, but both scales contain the same seven notes.
If you compare the notes in the D Major scale (D E F# G A B C#) and the A Major scale, you’ll notice that the only difference is the note G#.
This is why I suggest learning the A Major scale after you learn the D Major scale (learn the D Major scale in this guide). Once you memorize the D Major scale, all you need to do to change from D Major to A Major is remember to change G to G#.
Guitar Scales: Note Information And Scale Diagrams For Guitarists
You may have heard about the circle of fifths. The circle of fifths makes use of patterns to help you move from one scale to the next.
If you know the basics of intervals (learn about intervals in this lesson), you’ll start to see the patterns as we move from C Major to G Major to D Major to A Major.
If we start from the C and move up a fifth, we end up on G. If we move up a fifth from G, we end up on D. A fifth up from D is A.
A Major Pentatonic Scale: Note Information And Scale Diagrams For Guitarists
That’s the same order I suggest memorizing scales. Start with learning the C Major scale (no sharps or flats), then learn the G Major scale (one sharp), then the D Major scale (two sharps), then the A Major scale (three sharps), and so on.
Notice the jump in fifths between each scale root note? If you can, you can probably already figure out what the next scale in the series might be (hint: what’s a fifth up from A?).
Hopefully, this short description gives you a glimpse of how useful music theory can be. With some basic music theory, you can easily memorize the notes in all scales without having to look anything up.
Guitar Scales 101: Mastering The Lead Guitar
You want to focus on all of the positions where you play A because that’s the root note of the scale. Memorizing those positions first helps you when writing riffs, licks, or improvising.
You also want to pay attention to the C#, F#, and G# positions to help you switch into this scale from C Major, G Major, or D Major. Once you get used to switching back and forth between a couple of these scales, you’ll find that learning more scales becomes a breeze.
As I mentioned earlier, I highly recommend you start by memorizing the C Major scale, then work your way through the circle of fifths.
A Major Guitar Scale
Something you might notice about this scale is that it doesn’t use the open G string. The most common guitar scales make use of the open strings, so it might feel a bit strange playing a scale that doesn’t use the open G.
If you’ve already spent time memorizing the D Major scale, you might be surprised by how quickly you can fully memorize the A Major scale.
The more scales you learn using the method covered in the above guide, the faster it is to learn any new scales.
Pentatonic Major Scale Guitar Stock Illustrations
If you don’t know how to read the above example, find out how to read Standard Notation in this guide and how to read Guitar TAB in this guide. Knowing at least one of these methods can significantly speed up how fast you can learn new songs.
Try playing the examples to get a feel for how A Major sounds and where the correct notes are on the fretboard. Then I suggest trying to come up with your own examples of scale runs in different positions on the fretboard.
But as a general rule, I don’t recommend practicing scale runs like this. Playing up and down scale shapes is how a lot of guitarists get stuck in a rut.
Learn How To Play The A Major Scale On Guitar
Because the A Major scale uses three sharp notes, you may need to use some barre chords if you want to create chord progressions in the key of A.
When you compare these chords with chords in the C Major, G Major, or F Major scales, you’ll see why I suggest starting with these scales.
If you feel comfortable with barre chord shapes, try creating some chord progressions using all of these chords (except G#dim). Get a feel for how the key sounds before you go on to learning some songs in the key of A.
A Major Scale For Guitar
Don’t worry about the last chord (G#dim) as you’re unlikely to use it. When we harmonize a Major scale, the last chord in the scale is always a diminished chord. While diminished chords are used in music, as a beginner or intermediate guitarist you may not have much use for them yet.
Note: remember that the F# minor scale uses the exact same notes as the A Major scale. This means the above chords also fit in the key of F# minor.
As mentioned earlier, you shouldn’t rely on these resources. Learn how to memorize the notes on the fretboard. It might be easier to use a chart like the ones above to find your way across the fretboard, but you’ll become a far better guitarist if you properly memorize the fretboard notes.
Guitar Modes & Scales
While the A Major scale contains fewer open chord shapes than other scales, there are a lot of popular songs that were written in this key.
Keep in mind that the A Major and F# minor scales use the same notes, so some of the above songs are in the key of A, while others are in the key of F# minor.
For more resources, check out these guides. You can get notifications on new resources, guides, lessons, and reviews by subscribing to email updates here.
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DISCLOSURE: articles may contain affiliate links, meaning when you click the links and make a purchase, I receive a commission. Find out more here.Learn the A Major scale on guitar and get started with exercises to build your skills. Practice the scale positions with diagrams and tabs.
Playing the A major scale is great exercise, whether you’re new to guitar or you’ve been playing for years. The A major scale turns up in many genres of music, so knowing these notes will often come in handy on your musical journey.
The Major Guitar Scale » Lead Guitar Lessons
Additionally, learning your major scales is an excellent way to train your ear and get more familiar with your instrument, even if you don’t know much about music theory yet.
In this lesson, we’ll look at what notes make up the A major scale and learn how to play this scale in two positions. Finally, we’ll go over some scale exercises you can do to add this important scale to your guitar practice routine. Ready to get started?
The first note, A, is the root note of the
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