Guitar · seventh
A7 Chord on Guitar
A Dominant 7th is A, C#, E, G — the 1-3-5-b7 pattern of a seventh chord. There are 4 ways to play it on guitar, ranked below from easiest to hardest.
Good news: A7 has an open shape on guitar, so you can play it without barring anything. Start there and work up the neck later.
Start here — Open Position
Open shape — open strings ring right through it and there is nothing to barre. If you only learn one, learn this one.
Easier ways to play it — 4 shapes, easiest first
Same chord in all of them. What changes is how much your hand has to do and where on the neck it sits.
Open Position Way 1 of 4
Open Position
Easiest here· beginner· the standard shape
Open shape — open strings ring right through it and there is nothing to barre. If you only learn one, learn this one.
Open Position (alt) Way 2 of 4
Open Position (alt)
beginner
Open shape — open strings ring right through it and there is nothing to barre. If you only learn one, learn this one.
A Shape Barre (2nd fret) Way 3 of 4
A Shape Barre (2nd fret)
intermediate
Open shape — open strings ring right through it and there is nothing to barre. If you only learn one, learn this one.
E Shape Barre (5th fret) Way 4 of 4
E Shape Barre (5th fret)
intermediate
Barre at fret 5 — the same movable idea, further up the neck: brighter, more compact, and easier to reach if you are already playing up there.
What beginners get wrong
Moving in and out of it
The shape above: Open Position — open position, so several strings ring unfretted.
Listening: each shape above has its own play button, and each one plays the notes that shape actually produces — not a generic triad.
A7 on other instruments
Same notes, different hands. Every link below is a real page with diagrams and audio.
Chords next door
Same root, different colour — and all of them playable on guitar.
A7 on Guitar — questions people ask
What is the easiest way to play A7 on guitar?
“Open Position” — which we rate beginner — is the easiest A7 shape on guitar. Open shape — open strings ring right through it and there is nothing to barre. If you only learn one, learn this one.
What notes are in the A Dominant 7th chord?
A Dominant 7th is A, C#, E, G — the 1-3-5-b7 interval pattern of a seventh chord. Every voicing on this page uses those notes and nothing else; they just appear in a different order and octave.
How many ways can you play A7 on guitar?
This page has 4 A7 voicings for guitar, ranked from easiest to hardest: Open Position, Open Position (alt), A Shape Barre (2nd fret), E Shape Barre (5th fret). They all sound like A7; the differences are how hard they are to hold and how high they sit.
What can I play instead of A7?
The nearest stand-ins on guitar that keep the same root are Asus4, Asus2, A. They keep the root and the fifth and only change what sits in the middle, so most songs still work — but check the swap against the melody, because the note you removed may be the one the tune is singing.
Can I play A7 on other instruments?
Yes. A7 is the same set of notes everywhere; only the fingering changes. This site has diagrams and audio for it on piano, ukulele, bass, mandolin, banjo.
Learn the theory behind A7
The shape gets your fingers there. These explain why it sounds the way it does.