A6 Chord on Guitar
A6 = A – C# – E – F# (Root, Major 3rd, Perfect 5th, Major 6th)
A6 lives at the fifth fret as an E-shape barre, one fret shy of the guitar's halfway point on a 22-fret neck. The shape adds the sixth string's middle finger down onto the D string, giving the chord a rounder, less sharply defined sound than a plain A major triad sitting in the same position.
The notes are A, C#, E, F# — a major triad with a major sixth stacked on top. Those four notes happen to be exactly the notes of F# minor 7, which means A6 and F#m7 are the same chord physically played at different fret positions with a different note treated as the bass. Guitarists lean on that overlap constantly: ending a progression in A major on A6 instead of plain A softens the cadence, since the ear can't fully tell whether the harmony has resolved to the major tonic or slipped toward its relative minor.
Fingerings
Barre (5th fret)
How to Practice It
Play A major and A6 back to back and listen for just the one note that changes — the pinky or ring finger adding F# on the D string is the entire difference. Because A6 and F#m7 share every pitch, try fingering both shapes and comparing which bass note is emphasized; it's a good ear-training exercise for hearing how the same four notes can imply two different chords depending on context.
Common Progressions
- D – A6 – Bm – E (IV – I6 – ii – V in A major)
- A6 – D – A6 (a softened I – IV – I)
- F#m – A6 – D – E (vi – I6 – IV – V, leaning on the shared notes)
- A – A6 – D (a common closing move, brightening the tonic before the subdominant)
FAQ
- What's the difference between A6 and A major?
- A6 adds one note, the major sixth F#, on top of the plain A-C#-E triad, giving it a slightly softer, jazzier color without changing the chord's major quality.
- Why do A6 and F#m7 sound so similar?
- They're built from the exact same four notes — A, C#, E, F# — just with a different note functioning as the root, so the ear can genuinely read the same shape either way depending on the surrounding chords.
- Where does A6 sit on the neck?
- At the fifth fret, as a barre built from the open E-major shape, roughly a third of the way up a standard 22-fret guitar neck.
- Is A6 harder to play than A major?
- Only marginally — it's the identical barre with one extra finger added to fret the sixth on the D string, so anyone comfortable with the E-shape A-major barre can add A6 with very little extra work.
- Why would a songwriter choose A6 over plain A major at the end of a phrase?
- The added sixth removes some of the triad's finality, leaving the ear slightly unresolved in a pleasant way — a common trick in vintage pop and jazz-influenced writing that avoids a too-blunt full stop.
- Does A6 ever substitute for F#m7 directly in a chart?
- Yes — because the notes are identical, a guitarist reading a chart that calls for F#m7 in a passage centered on A major sometimes plays A6 instead deliberately, since it puts A in the bass and reinforces the tonic even while sounding the same four notes.
- What barre-chord technique carries over from A major to A6?
- The same first-finger barre across all six strings at the fifth fret does the foundational work in both chords; A6 just asks the third or fourth finger to reach one string further to add the sixth, so the core barre discipline transfers directly.
- Is there an alternative way to voice A6 lower on the neck?
- Yes — an open-position A6 can be built around the open A and open high E strings with the C# and F# fretted nearby, giving a brighter, more ringing version of the chord than the fifth-fret barre, though it requires selectively muting the low E and D strings, which the barre form avoids entirely.
A6 on other instruments: A6 on Piano, A6 on Ukulele. Related: how chords are built, chord finder.