Triads
A♯ minor chord
Darker and more melancholy than major, but just as stable.
A♯m is the ii chord in A♭ major, iii in F♯ major and vi in D♭ major. In minor keys: i in B♭ minor and iv in F minor.
- Notes
- A♯C♯E♯
- Formula
- 1♭35
- Built from
- root · minor 3rd · perfect 5th
How to play A♯m
About the A♯ minor chord
Playing it
There’s no open-string way to play A♯m on guitar with the root in the bass, so the standard shape is a barre across the 1st fret (x13321).
On piano, A♯m has two black keys (A♯ and C♯) and one white key.
On ukulele the usual A♯m shape is 3111, with a small 3-string barre at the 1st fret.
Related chords
A♯m shares two of its three notes with C♯ (C♯ and E♯), its relative major, and with F♯ (A♯ and C♯). 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♯m becomes a different chord: raise C♯ to C𝄪 for A♯, add G♯ for A♯m7, swap C♯ for D♯ for A♯sus4 and lower C♯ to B♯ for A♯sus2.
Where you’ll hear it
You’ll find A♯m in common progressions such as A♯m–F♯–C♯–G♯ (the minor-feel pop progression in C♯ major), B♭m–G♭–D♭–A♭ (the epic minor progression in B♭ minor) and B♭m–E♭m–F–B♭m (the minor cadence in B♭ minor).
Notice the E♯ in A♯m (A♯ C♯ E♯): each note of the chord takes its own letter (A–C–E), so the perfect 5th has to be written E♯ rather than F — the same key on a piano, spelled to fit the chord.
