Chords and Common Chord Progressions in the Key of Ab Major Although the key of A-flat is reputed to be gloomy and morbid, American ragtime composer Scott Joplin wrote his fabulously popular (and joyful) “Maple Leaf Rag” in this key. On the guitar, using the basic Ab chord position shown in the diagram above, these notes arrive in this order: Ab, Eb, Ab, C, Eb, and Ab. The A-flat major chord, which forms the root of the A-flat major scale, is made up of the notes Ab, C, and Eb- the first, third, and fifth notes of the key of A-flat major. As you can see, the only notes that aren’t flat are C, F, and G. This is the A-flat major scale, with Ab at its root and another Ab, an octave higher, at the top of the mountain. The scale of the key of Ab major is made up of A♭, B♭, C, D♭, E♭, F, and G. Theory and Practice: The Pattern of the A-Flat Major Scale Explained
#FLAT SHAPES SONG HOW TO#
You can also see our blog for five great tips on how to learn new chords. It can also be a little difficult to switch between this chord and and other chords in the key of A-flat, chords that might not be so close to this one on your fretboard.īut that’s why we created the Uberchord app! Just set up your smartphone and keep playing the chord (you can even program in chord progressions), letting the app tell you how to improve. Yes, it’s a little hard to hold all those strings down and make it sound good.
If you already know how to play the basic F major bar chord position, just move that baby up to the fourth fret and, bingo, you’ve got the Ab major chord. The A-Flat Major Chord Position on the Guitar: Get Ready to Put in a Little Extra Effort One surprising exception is Scott Joplin’s ragtime piano piece, “Maple Leaf Rag,” written in 1899, a musical cup of of joie de vivre if ever there was one! So whatever you want to say about the key of A-flat, you just can’t pigeonhole it. Perhaps its gloomy outlook didn’t actually endear it to composers- unless they were going through the dark night of the soul. Edward Elgar and Arnold Bax were among the very few who composed whole symphonies in A-flat major. The key of A-flat major is known for being morose, morbid, and melancholy, a key of death, judgment, condemnation, the grave, hauntings, and ghosts.īeethoven sometimes used A-flat major for movements within symphonies written in C minor, as did Anton Bruckner and Antonín Dvořák. Now that we’ve given G-sharp major its due, let’s start talking about its enharmonic equivalent, A-flat major. We’ll also jam through a few of A-flat’s songs and chord progressions.īut before we leave A-flat’s enharmonic equivalent, G-sharp, in the dust, we’ll just mention that it has been used occasionally in key passages in classical keyboard compositions, notably in Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier and in Frédéric Chopin’s Nocturnes in C-sharp Minor.
#FLAT SHAPES SONG SERIES#
Same series of notes, but a different name, notation, and key signature.īecause simplicity is a virtue we’re going to be looking at the A-flat guitar chord, exploring the key of A-flat’s history and its use in popular music, and talking about how hard it is to play the chord on the guitar. Practically speaking, we’d rather use G-sharp’s enharmonic equivalent, A-flat, which only has four flats. What is a theoretical key, you ask? It’s a key that really does exist- in theory. A-flat major is great at carrying lines like “Where your eyes don’t go a filthy scarecrow waves its broomstick arms and does a parody of each unconscious thing you do,” from They Might Be Giants. Because G-sharp has eight sharps (meaning one of the notes, F, has two sharps, making it actually a G) it’s considered a theoretical key. Today’s chord is G-sharp, which is more commonly known by its enharmonic equivalent, A-flat.
G-Sharp or A-Flat: Death, Doom, and Pestilence- Maybe
Theory and Practice: The Pattern of the A-Flat Major Scale Explained.
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