In this video
The A major lesson ties together the full learning journey from beginner to intermediate, showing how understanding one key can unlock dozens of songs and techniques.
Starting from the very basics, the lesson covers all the ways to play an A chord: three finger, one finger, bar chord and triad versions, and when each one is actually useful. The one-finger A chord gets special attention as the secret behind All Right Now and We Will Rock You.
The major scale formula is introduced on a single open string, showing how whole tones and semitones generate all the diatonic chords in the key. From there chord embellishments are layered in: A major seven, dominant seven, A6 (the Beatles chord), sus two and sus four. A substantial section follows on The Cure, showing how Robert Smith built In Between Days, Just Like Heaven and Pictures of You by walking through the diatonic chords in A in sequence.
Songs covered include:
The Cure catalogue — Boys Don't Cry, In Between Days, Pictures of You and Just Like Heaven, all from the same diatonic chord set
Can't Take My Eyes Off You — A major seven in a real song context
Wild Thing and All Right Now — the one four five in A, from open chords to bar chords
Led Zeppelin and AC/DC — finishing with the A minor pentatonic superhighway and what it unlocks in rock and blues