Triads
A♭ major chord
Bright, stable and resolved — the foundation of most songs.
A♭ is the I chord in A♭ major, IV in E♭ major and V in D♭ major. In minor keys: III in F minor, V in C♯ minor, VI in C minor and VII in B♭ minor.
- Notes
- A♭CE♭
- Formula
- 135
- Built from
- root · major 3rd · perfect 5th
How to play A♭
About the A♭ major chord
A♭ major is a warm, rich key that pianists, singers and horn sections use often — its four flats sit nicely under the hand on piano. On guitar it’s almost always a barre chord or a capo job.
Playing it
There’s no open-string way to play A♭ on guitar with the root in the bass, so the standard shape is a barre across the 4th fret (466544). While you build strength, you can play just the top four strings of the same shape (xx6544).
On piano, A♭ has two black keys (A♭ and E♭) and one white key.
On ukulele the usual A♭ shape is 1343, using four fingers.
Related chords
A♭ shares two of its three notes with Fm (A♭ and C), its relative minor, and with Cm (C and E♭). That overlap is why these chords sound so natural next to each other — and why they can often stand in for one another.
Move a single note and A♭ becomes a different chord: lower C to C♭ for A♭m, add G♭ for A♭7, add G for A♭maj7 and raise C to D♭ for A♭sus4.
Where you’ll hear it
You’ll find A♭ in common progressions such as A♭–E♭–Fm–D♭ (the pop progression in A♭ major), A♭–D♭–E♭–D♭ (three-chord rock in A♭ major) and A♭–Fm–D♭–E♭ (the ’50s progression in A♭ major).
