The A6 chord
The A6 (A - C# - E - F#) is a major sixth, which is why it sounds a sweeter, less obvious I chord. Writers pick it for nostalgia, big-band warmth, a country swing, and you can find it across jazz standards and old-time country. On guitar the chord sits in barre-chord territory for most useful keys; on piano it stacks straight up under the right hand. The page below covers the voicings worth memorising, the theory, the progressions where the A6 earns its keep, and the records that lean on it.
Hear the A6 in the chord builder →Voicings for A6
Common ways to grip the A6 on guitar and piano. Guitar diagrams read low E to high E left-to-right; an × means muted, an open circle above the nut means an open string. Filled dots are fretted notes.
Guitar , full chord shapes
CAGED-derived voicings for A6 across the neck. Pick the shape closest to where your hand already sits.
Guitar , triad shapes
Three-note triad shapes on each string set, shown moving up the neck. Light textures for arpeggios, pop layering and chord-melody work.
Piano voicings
Root position and inversions. The bass note matters: each inversion changes how the chord sits under a melody.
The theory behind A6
Progressions that use A6
Short progressions that put the A6 to work. Each one is shown in a different key so you can pick the one that suits your singer.
This chord appears as a borrowed or passing chord in many major-key progressions.
→ Build this in the chord builderSongs that feature A6
Real records where this chord does structural work. No lyrics quoted, just the title and artist so you can pull up a copy and hear it in context.
Related chords
Chords a step away from the A6 in the songwriting circle, the natural neighbours when you want a substitution.
Keys where A6 lives
The keys where this chord turns up diatonically. Open any key page for the full set of progressions that lean on it.
Related references
Other ways to put the A6 to work across the reference library.
More songwriting tools
Got the chord 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 to map a full progression? The chord builder on the home page is where the A6 fits into context. 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 the A6. For interactive playback, voice-leading hints and substitution suggestions, open the chord builder above.