A major scale on guitar

The notes of the A major scale

A B C♯ D E F♯ G♯

Formula: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. Steps from note to note: 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 semitones (whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half).

A major has 3 sharps: C♯, F♯ and G♯. Its relative minor, with the same notes, is F♯ minor.

In Hz, from A2: A2 110.0 · B2 123.5 · C♯3 138.6 · D3 146.8 · E3 164.8 · F♯3 185.0 · G♯3 207.7.

The A major scale on guitar

One position, frets 4–8, low E string first: low E: 4 5 7 (G♯ A B) · A: 4 5 7 (C♯ D E) · D: 4 6 7 (F♯ G♯ A) · G: 4 6 7 (B C♯ D) · B: 5 7 (E F♯) · high E: 4 5 7 (G♯ A B). 0 = open string.

The root A sits at fret 5 on the low E string and at fret 0 on the A string. Slide the same shape there for any other root.

A major in the 5th position

A major on guitar sits well around the 5th fret, the root under your middle finger on the low E string. It is the key of a lot of country and of rock built on open A and E chords, and its scale lines up with the open A, D and E strings. Three sharps: F♯, C♯ and G♯. If a song is in F♯ minor, these are its notes too.

More scales

Major scale on guitar A major scale on piano C major scale on guitar G major scale on guitar E major scale on guitar D major scale on guitar A major: scale and chords

How this page works

Hear it plays the scale up and down at 100 BPM on one of four Brumm sounds. Take it gives the same notes as a MIDI file and a WAV. − and + move the root. Every note here is computed from the formula.

Sources

Scales and modes: Open Music Theory, musictheory.net. Piano fingerings: the standard scale-book fingerings (ABRSM scale books; Hanon, The Virtuoso Pianist, part 3). Trumpet valves: the standard B♭ trumpet fingering chart (Yamaha, Bach). Hz: A4 = 440 Hz, ISO 16.

No microphone here, and the page keeps nothing. How the site counts visits.