Here is a quick guide to chords in the key of A major.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th |
| Major | Minor | Minor | Major | Major | Minor | Dim |
| I | ii | iii | IV | V | vi | viiº |
| A | Bm | C#m | D | E | F#m | G#º |
The notes of an A major scale are:
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th |
| A | B | C# | D | E | F# | G# |
Major Scale Formula
The scale notes above follow the ‘major’ scale formula of ‘steps‘:
WHOLE – WHOLE – HALF – WHOLE – WHOLE – WHOLE – HALF
Or ‘tones‘:
TONE – TONE – SEMITONE – TONE – TONE – TONE – SEMITONE
Or even frets:
Two Frets – Two Frets – One Fret – Two Frets – Two Frets – Two Frets – One Fret
Which gives us the following interval relationships from the tonic (1st note):
- Unison
- Major 2nd
- Major 3rd
- Perfect 4th
- Perfect 5th
- Major 6th
- Major 7th
- Octave
All the chords in the key of A major are made up of notes from the A major scale.
The notes of each chord in A major
| Chord Name | 1st | 3rd | 5th |
| A major | A | C# | E |
| B minor | B | D | F# |
| C# minor | C# | E | G# |
| D major | D | F# | A |
| E major | E | G# | B |
| F# minor | F# | A | C# |
| G# diminished | G# | B | D |
The relative minor scale of A major is F# minor, which comes from the 6th note of the A major scale.
