A7 Chord - Learn to Play on Guitar & Piano Keyboard

This article on the A7 chord will cover its music theory in brief, including chord scales, the layout of the chord notes on the fretboard, various open, movable, and barre patterns, and the inversions. The second section covers the layouts on the piano keyboard.

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Music Theory, Notes & Intervals Of The A7 Chord

The brief music theory related to the A7 is shown below.

It has the intervals of M3 – m3 – m3 stacked over the root note A.
The notes of the dominant seventh chords are at intervals of R – M3 – P5 – m7 from the root notes.
The notes of the A7 chord are [A, C#, E, and G], which are at the scale degrees [5, 7, 2, and 4] of the D major scale.
It is formed by stacking a minor 7th interval over the A major chord.

A7 Chord Scales

The A7 chord is naturally occurring in the scales listed below:

D Major Scale and its modes.
E Melodic Minor Scale and its modes.
D Melodic Minor scale and its modes.
D Harmonic Minor scale and its modes.
D Harmonic Major scale and its modes.

How To Play The A7 Chord

You can now see and learn how to play the A7 chord on guitar and piano keyboard.

Map Chords Along All The Fretboard

The chord tones that form the A7 guitar chords are shown on the fretboard in the diagram below.

A Dominant Seventh Chord – Guitar Chord Shapes And Fingerings

Let us see the different ways to play the A7 guitar chord and the suggested finger positions in the chord diagrams below.

Here

1 – Index or the First Finger,
2 – Middle or the Second Finger,
3 – Ring or the Third finger,
4 – Little or the Fourth Finger.

You must skip or mute the strings marked ‘X.’

Open Position

The twelve open-position voicings of the A7 chord are shown below.

O1 – Construction – (x – 0 – 2 – 0 – x – x). Notes – (1, 5, and b7). Omitted 3rd note.
O2 – Construction – (x – 0 – x – 0 – 2 – x). Notes – (1, b7, and 3). Omitted 5th note.
O3 – Construction – (x – 0 – x – x – 2 – 3). Notes – (1, 3, and b7). Omitted 5th note.
O4 – Construction – (x – 0 – 2 – 0 – 2 – 0). Notes – (1, 5, b7, 3, and 5).
O5 – Construction – (x – 0 – 2 – 0 – 2 – 3). Notes – (1, 5, b7, 3, and b7).
O6 – Construction – (x – 0 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 3). Notes – (1, 5, 1, 3, and b7).
O7 – Construction – (5 – 4 – 5 – 0 – x – x). Notes – (1, 3, b7, and b7). Omitted 5th note.
O8 – Construction – (x – 0 – 5 – 6 – 5 – 0). Notes – (1, b7, 3, 5, and 5).
O9 – Construction – (x – 10 – x – 9 – 10 – 0). Notes – (b7, 5, 1, and 5). Omitted 3rd and G is the bass note.
O10 – Construction – (x – 0 – 11 – 0 – 10 – 9). Notes – (1, 3, b7, 1, and 3). Omitted 5th note.
O11 – Construction – (x – 12 – 11 – 0 – 10 – 0). Notes – (1, 3, b7, 1, and 5).
O12 – Construction – (x – 12 – 11 – 12 – 10 – 0). Notes – (1, 3, b7, 1, and 5).

O10

O11

O12

Movable Positions

You can see the nine movable B7 chord options in all the positions up to the octave in the diagrams below.

M1 – Construction – (5 – x – 5 – 6 – x – x). Notes – (1, b7, and 3). Omitted 5th.
M2 – Construction – (5 – x – 5 – 6 – 5 – x). Notes – (1, b7, 3, and 5).
M3 – Construction – (x – x – 7 – 6 – 8 – x). Notes – (1, 3, and b7). Omitted 5th.
M4 – Construction – (x – x – 7 – 9 – 8 – 9). Notes – (1, 5, b7, and 3).
M5 – Construction – (9 – x – 7 – 9 – 8 – x). Notes – (3, 1, 5, and b7).
M6 – Construction – (x – x – x – 9 – 8 – 9). Notes – (5, b7, and 3). Rootless voicing.
M7 – Construction – (x – 12 – 11 – 12 – x – x). Notes – (1, 3, and b7). Omitted 5th.
M8 – Construction – (x – 12 – 11 – 12 – 10 – x). Notes – (1, 3, b7, and 1). Omitted 5th. Another root note at the 10th fret of the B string.
M9 – Construction – (x – x – 11 – 12 – 10 – 12). Notes – (3, b7, 1, and 5).

Barre Chords

The five Barre Chord options are

B1 – (5, 1, 3, and b7). The seventh of the chord is fretted on the high E string.
B2 – (1, 5, b7, 3, b7, and 1). Common movable barre chord voicing.
B3 – (1, 5, b7, 3, 5, and 1). Open E7-shaped voicing.
B4 – (b7, 3, b7, and 1).
B5 – (1, 5, b7, 3, and 5).