Ab Major guitar chord
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About Ab — 2nd inversion
Ab is Ab, C and Eb.
It sounds plain and completely at rest. The reference every other chord on this page is a modification of.
Ab notes and formula
| Ab | C | Eb |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 |
Tonic — the chord a progression stops on.
Also written Abmaj, AbM or Ab major. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Ab
Ab in 2nd inversion puts Eb in the bass instead of Ab, the 5th of the chord. The notes are the same; what changes is what the bass line does, which is most of why you would reach for it — it lets the lowest voice move by step where the root would have jumped.
One of Ab’s 6 common shapes does this: xx1114.
Start with xx6898 — no barre. None of the shapes for Ab uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 1st fret. 4 of the 6 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 13th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 431114 | 1st fret | Ab, root position | Ab | barred |
| xx1114 | 1st fret | Eb, 2nd inversion | Ab | barred |
| 466544 | 4th fret | Ab, root position | Ab | barred |
| xx6898 | 6th fret | Ab, root position | C | all fretted |
| x-11-10-8-9-8 | 8th fret | Ab, root position | C | all fretted |
| x-11-13-13-13-11 | 11th fret | Ab, root position | Eb | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 45 triad voicings, each on its own page.
How to use Ab
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Ab is Bbm7 to Eb7 — the ii and the V of Ab — and Eb7 shares its third and seventh with Bbm7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of Ab belongs to C minor (the ♭VI), C# major (the V), Eb major (the IV), F minor (the ♭III), Ab major (the I) and Bb minor (the ♭VII).
What to play over Ab
Every note of Ab is in Ab major pentatonic, Ab major, Ab lydian, Ab mixolydian and Ab lydian dominant.
Chords near Ab
Change one note of Ab and you have Abm (the major third becomes a minor third), Absus2 (the major third becomes a ninth), Absus4 (the major third becomes a fourth), Abmaj7 (add the major seventh), Abadd9 (add the ninth) or Ab5 (drop the major third).
Ab is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major chords on every root.
On Ab’s sound and use this page follows Edward Aldwell & Carl Schachter, Harmony and Voice Leading (Schirmer / Cengage, 4th ed., 2011). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.