How to Build A7 Chords on the Guitar

When it comes to chord building, some chords are easier than others. You may have heard of A major and A minor, where you take the first, third and fifth scale notes to form the chord, but the A7 may be new to you. In the A7, we add a flattened seventh, for a sound that's a little different. Here's how to build an A7 chord from the most popular "open" form of the A major.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. Leave the bottom string open. That's E, the fifth of the chord.

2. Put your index finger on the second fret of the D string (third string from bottom). There's your E note again. In open A chords, the E as the fifth takes up three strings and gets repeated three times for a strong resonant sound.

3. Now for an A major chord, you would press on the second fret of the G string (fourth from bottom), but for an A7, you'll be taking your seventh (G#) and flatting it to a G, so you won't actually have to put your finger on that string either. You'll just leave it open.

4. Put your ring finger on the second fret of the B string (second string from top) to add another A (the first, or "base" note) to your A7 chord.

5. Leave the top string open for your last and highest E note.

Tips & Warnings

• Look at the big picture. If chord building seems like a riddle to you, it helps to go from a known major chord and look at the changes. Remember that for a chord like A7, you add the flattened seventh and keep the rest of the chord intact. The more you know about the relationships of chords, the easier it will be to build them.