A7 chord played on strings 1 2 3 4

This lesson has us looking at inversions of an A7 chord on strings 1 2 3 4

A7 is called a dominant 7th chord built from the 5th degree of a D major scale, D Harmonic minor and a D Melodic minor.  All dominant chords are built from the 5th degree of a scale.

A7 in root position on the staff!
A7 in root position on the fretboard

Very Common A7 in Open

So the chords to the right are the same.  One shows the names of the open strings.  These would be the most common form of A7 played on the guitar.

A7

A7 in open

A7

A7 in open

A7 in 10th Position

Here is one common way to play A7.  This is in 10th position.  Notice it does not have an E however you could let your high E string ring.  You could let your low E string ring too but you will probably find it sounds muddy and if you do should be written as a slash chord called A7/E

A7 on the fretboard in 10th position
C7 in 1st position and A7 in 10th position on the fretboard

The video to the right shows the chord forms explained below.  The video was one of the first videos I put on youtube 10 years ago (little did I know at that time that the channel would go on to grow over 26 million views).  I will redo it soon 🙂


2nd and 5th Position

Don't worry about reading music if you don't.  The staff is here just for those who do or are in the process of learning to read music.

A7 inversions on the staff in standard notation
A7 inversions on the fretboard in 2nd and 5th position

A7 in 2nd

A7 on the fretboard in 2nd position strings 1 2 3 4

A7 in 5th

A7 on the fretboard in 5th position strings 1 2 3 4

7th Position

A7 in 7th

A7 on the fretboard in 7th position

10th and 14th Position

Don't worry about reading music if you don't.  The staff is here just for those who do or are in the process of learning to read music.

A7 in 10th

A7 in 14th

A7 on the fretboard in 14th position on strings 1 2 3 4

Practicing chords along with jam tracks is a very useful and fun way to practice new chord shapes.  Start simple with moving only between two shapes and gradually add more shapes.  It is also fun to have some fun with some scales in between your chords.  Become a member below for more on that 🙂


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