Guitar · seventh sharp five
A7♯5 Chord on Guitar
A Dominant 7♯5 is A, C#, E#, G — the 1-3-#5-b7 pattern of a seventh sharp five chord. There are 2 ways to play it on guitar, ranked below from easiest to hardest.
Good news: A7#5 has an open shape on guitar, so you can play it without barring anything. Start there and work up the neck later.
Start here — Movable Root-5 Shape (2nd fret)
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 — 2 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.
Movable Root-5 Shape (2nd fret) Way 1 of 2
Movable Root-5 Shape (2nd fret)
Easiest here· advanced· 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.
Movable Root-6 Shape (5th fret) Way 2 of 2
Movable Root-6 Shape (5th fret)
advanced
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: Movable Root-5 Shape (2nd fret) — 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#5 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#5 on Guitar — questions people ask
What is the easiest way to play A7#5 on guitar?
“Movable Root-5 Shape (2nd fret)” — which we rate advanced — is the easiest A7#5 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 7♯5 chord?
A Dominant 7♯5 is A, C#, E#, G — the 1-3-#5-b7 interval pattern of a seventh sharp five 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#5 on guitar?
This page has 2 A7#5 voicings for guitar, ranked from easiest to hardest: Movable Root-5 Shape (2nd fret), Movable Root-6 Shape (5th fret). They all sound like A7#5; the differences are how hard they are to hold and how high they sit.
What can I play instead of A7#5?
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#5 on other instruments?
Yes. A7#5 is the same set of notes everywhere; only the fingering changes. This site has diagrams and audio for it on piano.
Learn the theory behind A7#5
The shape gets your fingers there. These explain why it sounds the way it does.
Borrowed Chords and Modal Mixture — Stealing from Parallel Keys
The raised fifth comes from outside the key. This is where chords like it are borrowed from.
7 min read
Functional Harmony: Three Roles, One Engine
That sharpened fifth is a pull toward the next chord — here is the mechanism.
6 min read
Intervals — The Only Music Theory You Actually Need
Two stacked major thirds, and the symmetry that makes it feel homeless.
5 min read