A Chord Shape Explorer

It's time for more chord explorations!

In this tutorial, we'll check out the A Shape, and how to turn the A chord grips you already know into many others. You'll grow your chord repertoire and allow your musical imagination to express ideas more freely without memorizing new chords from diagrams or even naming them. 

 

💡 This lesson is part of my Chord Shapes Explorer series - included in my Beginner Course - Grade 3. If you've missed the previous lessons, check them out now.

D Chord Shape Explorer

C Chord Shape Explorer

G Chord Shape Explorer

Moving Up Open Chords

And much more to come!

 

Note: Explorer lessons for all five CAGED shapes can also be found, grouped together, under All Courses here.

 

Exploring your A Chord

All beginners should be familiar with the A chord, one of the 8 essential open chords we learn in Grade 1. If you've followed my Beginner Course, you might know that I don't play or teach my students the regular A open chord grip. Instead, I prefer the following fingering:

• The 1st finger is in the 2nd fret on the 3rd string.
• The 2nd finger is in the 2nd fret on the 4th string.
• The 3rd finger is in the 2nd fret on the 2nd string.

 

This fingering sounds better to me and brings many other benefits! Assume that you're happy with that fingering; we can try many variations. The first chord you'll find is an Asus2 - get it by lifting off your third finger. I love this chord!

 

💡 You don't have to worry about the chord names for this lesson. Join my Music Theory Course to further understand your guitar fretboard and how to name and find any guitar chord!

The second variation is also easy! Lift your first finger off to get an A7 chord. Many people have trouble with this chord because the second finger lays over a little bit. And you don't hear any difference if the underneath of that second finger mutes your third string! So, ensure you're using the tips of your fingers and getting that G chord ringing.

While we're on that, you can easily get to an Amaj7 Chord. If you're playing a song with an A chord, you'll either find that Amaj7 or A7 will work. Rarely they'll both work well in the same context unless it's a specific movement where you'd have an Amaj7 and A7 going to the D chord. Check out the video lesson to explore it further.

 

🎵 You'll find many songs that you can use these chord variations. Explore lifting some fingers off, or adding your little finger! You'll find loads of interesting things to explore. :)

 

From the A7 chord, your little finger can go down on the third fret of the thinnest string. It's a great variation for when you're playing the Blues!

When exploring chords like in this lesson, you'll use your ears to decide on the variations and substitutions you might be doing. Sometimes, it'll all be about some hammer-ons and flick-offs.

You can easily get an A6 chord movement from the A7 by putting the little finger underneath, so all the fingers are in the same fret! And there's an easier way of playing that chord - which we'll check out in this tutorial, so don't miss out on the full video lesson!

You can do a lot by exploring the A Shape, including Dominant 7th and 6th, especially if you want to play the Blues. You can explore many of these chord shapes with a 12 Bar Blues Progression, so revisit that Grade 2 lesson too. 

 

Develop Your Musical Imagination!

Try to use different chord shapes when playing the songs you already know. You can also explore songwriting and make songs on your own! See how your creativity can influence the songs you play, and explore as many chord variations as possible!

Remember that you've got to deliberately practice this exercise to make it instinctual. If I'm playing an A chord in any song, anytime, all of those variations are just hanging around and waiting for my musical imagination to get triggered and try something new. That's where you want to be as an Intermediate guitar player.

And it's not difficult; it just requires a little effort to train your musical imagination and your hand to work together and recognize sounds you'd like to play.

 

Learn More! My Beginner Grade 3 Course will take you right to the Intermediate stages. And it's free. :)