A#5 Chord on Guitar

Fingerings

How to Practice It

The sixth fret sits at a comfortable mid-neck position, with fret spacing narrower than the open-adjacent chords but not yet tight — a reasonable spot to check that fretting pressure stays consistent as the hand moves further from the nut. As with the earlier A# barre chords, it's worth connecting this power chord back to that full A#-major shape at the same fret, since dropping to just the power chord is a common way to thin out the texture mid-song.

Common Progressions

• A#5 – D#5 – F5 – A#5 (I – IV – V – I)
• A#5 – G#5 – F#5 (a descending riff)
• A#5 – C5 – D5 (a rock-style progression)
• A5 – A#5 – B5 (a chromatic passing move)

FAQ

Is the sixth fret considered a difficult position for this shape?

Not especially — it's past the widest string spacing found near the nut but still well short of the cramped upper frets, making A#5 a moderate, unremarkable stop on the neck rather than a genuinely hard one.

Is A#5 the same as Bb5?

Yes — Bb5 is the far more common spelling in practical charts, particularly anywhere horn instruments are involved, though the fingering and pitches are identical either way.

Why does A#5/Bb5 come up more than some other sharp-rooted power chords?

Bb-key material has genuine use in blues and horn-influenced rock, since Bb is a favored key for trumpets and saxophones, giving this power chord more real-world playing time than some of its less common neighbors.

How does A#5 relate to the A#-major barre chord at the same fret?

It uses the identical root position but drops the note that supplies the major third, giving a leaner, more aggressive texture useful when a full triad would sound too thick under distortion.

Is there a lower-fret way to play A#5?

Yes — building the identical root-fifth interval off the A string rather than the low E string lands A#5/Bb5 at the first fret, considerably closer to open position than the sixth-fret version described above.

Why would a guitarist choose the sixth-fret low-E-string version over the first-fret A-string version?

The low-E-string shape rings a fuller, lower voicing since it uses the guitar's heaviest string as its root, while the A-string version is a touch brighter and sits closer to open position — the choice usually comes down to which neighboring chords the rest of the riff needs to connect to smoothly.

Does A#5/Bb5 ever function as a I chord rather than a passing chord?

Yes — in Bb-rooted blues or horn-influenced rock, this exact power chord can be the tonic the whole progression is built around, not merely a connector between other roots.

How does the physical demand of A#5 compare to F5, its counterpart five frets lower?

Essentially identical in shape and finger arrangement, with only a marginal increase in string tension at the sixth fret compared to the first — a player comfortable with F5 will find A#5 requires no new technique, just a different hand position.

Does A#5/Bb5 turn up in any particular subgenre more than others?

It's especially associated with soul-influenced and horn-augmented rock, where Bb's popularity as a brass key filters through into the guitar parts even on songs where the horns themselves stay mostly in the background.

How does A#5 relate to the A#-minor barre chord discussed elsewhere in this set?

Both share the same sixth-fret root position, but A#5 drops the note that would establish either a major or minor third, leaving a chord with no fixed quality at all, unlike the minor barre chord it sits alongside on the neck.