Piano chord · Major triad
A♭ major piano chord (A♭)
A♭, C and E♭, played together. Root position is highlighted on the keyboard below — press play to hear it.
Notes in A♭: A♭, C and E♭
| Note | Interval from the root | Key around middle C |
|---|---|---|
| A♭ | Root | G♯4 · black key |
| C | Major 3rd | C5 · white key |
| E♭ | Perfect 5th | D♯5 · black key |
- Chord symbol: A♭ — A♭ major
- Formula: R · 3 · 5 (0 · 4 · 7 semitones from the root)
- Right hand fingering: 1-3-5 — thumb, middle finger and little finger
- Left hand fingering: 5-3-1, little finger on the root
How A♭ works
A♭ major is black–white–black and the flat side's answer to E major: warm, thick and a favourite of Chopin. Because the outer notes are black keys, the hand naturally sits further into the keyboard — let it, rather than fighting to stay at the front edge.
A♭ inversions
An inversion keeps the same notes and changes which one is at the bottom. That matters because it lets you move between chords without jumping: the closer the notes of the next chord are to the ones your hand is already holding, the smoother it sounds and the easier it is to play. Root position first, then two inversions.
Root position
A♭–C–E♭ — the root, A♭, is at the bottom.
1st inversion — C in the bass
C–E♭–A♭ — the same three notes, reordered so C is lowest.
2nd inversion — E♭ in the bass
E♭–A♭–C — the same three notes, reordered so E♭ is lowest.
Common mistakes on A♭
- Spelling the third as B♯ instead of C.
- Playing A natural because the eye jumps to the nearest white key.
- Letting the hand drift back until the thumb jams between A♭ and G.
Piano chord data last updated . Every diagram here, in the printable PDF and in the chart image comes from one dataset, so the paper and the screen cannot disagree.