Chord builder · Key page

Chord progressions in A major

Built around A major, this is the punchy strummer's key, with three open chords already in pocket. The easy steadiness of the tonic chord pulls a listener in before the progression has started. Three open chords (A, D and E) cover most of the songs you can play without thinking. The diatonic chords, four to six of the progressions that account for most songs ever written in A major, and a short note on which borrowed colours darken a chorus for a single beat are all laid out in the sections below.

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Diatonic chords in A major

The seven chords built from the A major scale. Together they form the home territory of any song written in this key.

Roman	Chord	Quality	Function
I	A	Major	Tonic
ii	Bm	Minor	Supertonic
iii	C#m	Minor	Mediant
IV	D	Major	Subdominant
V	E	Major	Dominant
vi	F#m	Minor	Submediant
vii°	G#dim	Diminished	Leading tone

Common progressions in A major

Six patterns that show up again and again in songs written in this key. The chord names are spelled out in A major so you can drop them straight into a verse or chorus.

I→V→vi→IV

The pop axis

A - E - F#m - D

The four-chord engine behind a thousand pop hits. The lift from I to V opens the chorus, vi pulls down into feeling, IV walks back toward home.

Heard in: 'Don't Stop Believin'' by Journey, 'Let It Be' by The Beatles, 'With or Without You' by U2

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vi→IV→I→V

Sad pop, optimistic chorus

F#m - D - A - E

Same chords as the pop axis, started on the relative minor. The minor opening gives the verse weight before the chorus climbs.

Heard in: 'Apologize' by OneRepublic, 'Grenade' by Bruno Mars, 'Someone Like You' by Adele

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ii→V→I

The jazz turnaround

Bm - E - A

The cornerstone of every jazz standard. ii sets up the dominant, V resolves home with full gravity. Add a seventh on each chord for the canonical sound.

Heard in: 'Autumn Leaves' (standard), 'Fly Me to the Moon' by Frank Sinatra, 'All the Things You Are' (standard)

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I→IV→V

The three-chord workhorse

A - D - E

The bedrock of rock, blues and country. Three chords, every song. Simple to play, hard to make sound fresh.

Heard in: 'Twist and Shout' by The Beatles, 'La Bamba' by Ritchie Valens, 'Wild Thing' by The Troggs

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I→vi→IV→V

Fifties doo-wop

A - F#m - D - E

The doo-wop bedrock. Stable on I, drift down to vi, climb back via IV and V. Used flat-out for ballads in every decade since.

Heard in: 'Stand By Me' by Ben E. King, 'Earth Angel' by The Penguins, 'Every Breath You Take' by The Police

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I→V→IV→I

Country cadence

A - E - D - A

A confident verse pattern that walks out and walks home in four bars. Common in country, folk and 90s alt-rock.

Heard in: 'Brown Eyed Girl' by Van Morrison, 'Wagon Wheel' by Old Crow Medicine Show, 'Ring of Fire' by Johnny Cash

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Borrowed chords for A major

Chords pulled in from the parallel key to add colour. These four are the ones songwriters reach for most often when A major starts to feel too plain.

From parallel minor (bVII)

The sound of classic rock backsteps. Pulls the harmony briefly into the parallel minor before resolving home.

From parallel minor (iv)

Replaces the bright IV with its minor twin. A short minor iv in a major progression creates the famous bittersweet pivot.

From parallel minor (bVI)

A surprise major chord a step below the dominant. Used in bridges to push the listener into a new emotional room.

From parallel minor (bIII)

A rich, unexpected major chord built on the flattened third. A favourite of indie and dream-pop writers.

Why songwriters reach for A major

A major carries three sharps (F#, C#, G#), which means open A, D, E ready; guitar sounds full and punchy in this register. Writers gravitate to it for the strummer's standard key. On guitar, the shapes fit well under common fingerings. A capo at the second or third fret can shift the shape repertoire while keeping the key. On piano, the keyboard layout rewards steady scale practice. The most common reason to pick A major over a neighbour is the colour: used by classic rock and modern pop alike for its energetic projection.

Related keys

The keys closest to A major in tonal gravity. Open any to see its full progression palette.

Relative: F# minor Parallel: A minor Dominant key: E major Subdominant key: D major Ab major G major D minor Db major

Sibling chord pages

Drill into any single chord from this key. Each chord page covers voicings, common progressions, and real songs that lean on that chord.

A Bm C#m D E F#m

More songwriting tools

Got the chord progression but still wrestling with the lyric? Find the right rhyme in RhymeForge, or break a writer's block with the unexpected word-pair generator in CollisionLab. Need a melody to sit over the chords? The chord builder on the home page plays every progression back through a sampled piano. All free, no signup.

About the chord builder

The Undercover Zest chord progression builder is a free interactive tool that maps every diatonic and borrowed chord in every key. Click a Roman numeral to hear it, drag chords into a progression, then audition voicings, inversions and tensions until the song clicks.

This page is a static reference for songs written in A major. For interactive playback, voice-leading hints and substitution suggestions, open the chord builder above with A major pre-selected.