Ab guitar chord: 4 ways to play Ab major (G#)

Ways to play A♭

Lowest on the neck first. Tap a shape to put it on the fretboard above and hear it. The numbers are fingers (1 is your index), × means leave that string out, and ○ means let it ring open.

What's in A♭

A major chord stacks a major 3rd (four half steps) and a perfect 5th (seven half steps) on the root. For A♭ that gives A♭, C and E♭. Every shape below is some arrangement of those three notes, with a few doubled in another octave.

Note	Formula	Interval from A♭
A♭	1	Root
C	3	Major 3rd
E♭	5	Perfect 5th

Major chords sound settled and bright. They are the I, IV and V of every major key, which is why so many songs get by on three of them.

The key of A♭ major

Four flats. Common in piano and horn-led music, less so on guitar. Capo 1 with G shapes, or capo 4 with E shapes, are the usual ways in.

The seven chords built from the A♭ major scale:

IA♭
iiB♭m
iiiCm
IVD♭
VE♭
viFm
vii°Gdim

Keys that use A♭

Every major and minor key whose scale contains all of A♭, C and E♭, and the chord's Roman numeral in each. Minor keys marked harmonic get the chord from the raised 7th of the harmonic minor scale.

Key	A♭ is the
A♭ major	I
E♭ major	IV
D♭ major	V
C♯ minor (harmonic)	V
C minor	VI
F minor	III
B♭ minor	VII

Progressions to try

I–IV–V in A♭ major

The three-chord backbone of folk, blues and early rock and roll.

I–V–vi–IV in A♭ major

The loop under a huge share of pop songs since the 1980s.

I–vi–IV–V in A♭ major

The 1950s doo-wop progression. Same chords as above, different order, very different mood.

The relative minor is Fm, which shares its key signature. The parallel minor is G♯m, same root with the 3rd lowered.

Other chords on A♭:

See every chord in the library

A♭ major chord