Ed Sheeran - The A Team - Chord

Key A major – F# minor Chords A, F#m, Dadd9, E/F#, D, A/F#, Bm7, B7sus4 … Easy key G (capo 2)

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Capo 0

A   A   A/F# F#m Dadd9  A   

A                                 A/F#      F#m
White lips, pale face, breathing in snowflakes
         Dadd9        A        B7sus4
Burnt lungs, sour taste
A                                      A/F#   F#m
Light’s gone, day’s end, struggling to pay rent
          Dadd9       A
Long nights, strange men

Bm7                              D                    A
And they say she’s in the Class A Team, stuck in her daydream
                    E/F#               Bm7                          D
Been this way since 18, but lately her face seems, slowly sinking, wasting
               A                             E/F#
Crumbling like pastries, and they scream the worst things in life come free to us

          F#m          Dadd9       A
Cos she's just under the upperhand, and go mad for a couple of grams
F#m                   Dadd9    A
And she don’t want to go outside tonight
         F#m                   Dadd9      A
And in a pipe she flies to the Motherland, or sells love to another man
F#m        Dadd9   A       E/F#      F#m   Dadd9  A
It’s too cold outside for angels to fly,
              F#m  Dadd9  A    A/F#
for angels to fly

A                                          A/F#       F#m
Ripped gloves, raincoat, tried to swim and stay afloat
      Dadd9          A         B7sus4
Dry house, wet clothes
A                                     A/F#      F#m
Loose change, bank notes, weary-eyed, dry throat
       Dadd9    A
Call girl, no phone

Bm7                              D                    A
And they say she’s in the Class A Team, stuck in her daydream
                    E/F#               Bm7                          D
Been this way since 18, but lately her face seems, slowly sinking, wasting
               A                             E/F#
Crumbling like pastries, and they scream the worst things in life come free to us

          F#m          Dadd9       A
Cos she's just under the upperhand, and go mad for a couple of grams
F#m                   Dadd9    A
And she don’t want to go outside tonight
         F#m                   Dadd9      A
And in a pipe she flies to the Motherland, or sells love to another man
F#m        Dadd9   A       E/F#      Bm7
It’s too cold outside for angels to fly
      
Bm7           D               F#m
An angel will die, covered in white
       A/F#    A
Closed eye and hoping for a better life
Bm7                       D         Eadd4            F#m  D    A   E/F#
This time, we’ll fade out tonight, straight down the line
                    F#m  D   A   E/F#
Straight down the line

Bm7                              D                    A 
And they say she’s in the Class A Team, stuck in her daydream
                    E/F#               Bm7                          D
Been this way since 18, but lately her face seems, slowly sinking, wasting
               A                             E/F#
Crumbling like pastries, and they scream the worst things in life come free to us

          F#m          Dadd9      A
And we're all under the upperhand, and go mad for a couple of grams
F#m                  Dadd9    A
And we don’t want to go outside tonight
         F#m                   Dadd9      A
And in a pipe we'll fly to the Motherland, or sell love to another man
F#m        Dadd9   A       E/F#      F#m   Dadd9  A
It’s too cold outside for angels to fly,
              F#m  Dadd9  A   A/F#
for angels to flyyyyy
F#m  Dadd9 A            A/F# F#m  Dadd9    A
Flyyyy, flyyyyyy, angels to  fly, fly, flyyy
   E/F#      A
Or angels to die

End of song Play again?

Ed Sheeran - The A Team Tabs

NotesX

Harmony analysis

Ed Sheeran – The A Team: key and chord analysis

The song opens on A and ends on A. Its chords belong to both A major and F#m, so every chord below is read both ways.

Major view

A major

Brightness rank 2/7 (bright)

Characteristic notes

7 = G# (leading tone, pulls home)
4 = D (the note that leans on the 3rd)

Minor view

F# minor

Brightness rank 5/7 (leaning dark)

Characteristic notes

b6 = D (the minor's melancholy)
b7 = E (natural-minor colour)

Which side does the ear lean to?

Our reading: to us the song feels closer to the A major side because it both starts and finishes on A and A is heard 48 times against 26 for F#m. That is an interpretation, not a rule — hearing the same chords from F# minor is just as valid and teaches you something different.

Chord degrees: major and relative minor

Show the degrees above the chords — relative to A or to F#m; comparing both readings is a practice of its own.

Every chord of the key, listed 1 to 7 separately for each key. Chords played in the song show how often they appear; chords from outside the scale sit next to their own degree.

Seen from A major
Degree	Chord	Role	Notes	In song
I	A	Tonic — home	A · C# · E	39×
I	A/F#	Tonic — home	A · C# · E	9×
ii7	Bm7	Supertonic — prepares the dominant	B · D · F# · A	9×
V7/V	B7sus4	Secondary dominant V/V — leads to Esecondary dominant	B · E · F# · A	2×
iii	C#m	Mediant — a tonic-family shade	C# · E · G#	—
V/vi	C#	Secondary dominant V/vi — leads to F#msecondary dominant	C# · E# · G#	—
IV	Dadd9	Subdominant — moves away from home	D · F# · A · E	23×
IV	D	Subdominant — moves away from home	D · F# · A	10×
V	E/F#	Dominant — strongest pull home	E · G# · B	12×
V	Eadd4	Dominant — strongest pull home	E · G# · B · A	1×
vi	F#m	Relative minor — the melancholy side	F# · A · C#	26×
vii°	G#dim	Leading-tone chord — tension	G# · B · D	—

Seen from F# minor
Degree	Chord	Role	Notes	In song
i	F#m	Tonic — home	F# · A · C#	26×
ii°	G#dim	Supertonic — prepares the dominant	G# · B · D	—
III	A	Relative major — the bright side	A · C# · E	39×
III	A/F#	Relative major — the bright side	A · C# · E	9×
iv7	Bm7	Subdominant — moves away from home	B · D · F# · A	9×
IV7sus4	B7sus4	Major IV — Dorian / melodic-minor colourmodal colour	B · E · F# · A	2×
v	C#m	Minor dominant — soft pull	C# · E · G#	—
V	C#	Dominant — borrowed from harmonic minor, pulls hard to the tonicharmonic minor	C# · E# · G#	—
VI	Dadd9	Submediant — warm colour	D · F# · A · E	23×
VI	D	Submediant — warm colour	D · F# · A	10×
VII	E/F#	Subtonic — steps back to the tonic	E · G# · B	12×
VII	Eadd4	Subtonic — steps back to the tonic	E · G# · B · A	1×

Analysis

The key pair is A major and its relative F# minor (3 sharps). 9 different chords appear 131 times in total; 8 of them sit naturally inside the shared scale. B7sus4 acts as a secondary dominant, briefly pointing at another chord of the key.

Chord movement

Dadd9 A AIV → Iplagal cadence F#mVI → III ×23
D A AIV → Iplagal cadence F#mVI → III ×8
E/F# F#m AV → videceptive cadence F#mVII → iAeolian arrival ×6
E/F# A AV → Iauthentic cadence F#mVII → III ×1
Eadd4 F#m AV → videceptive cadence F#mVII → iAeolian arrival ×1
D F#m AIV → vi F#mVI → iVI → i ×1

The move to watch is Dadd9 → A, heard 23 times. From the A side it reads IV → I (plagal cadence: the soft 'amen' ending); from the F#m side it is VI → III. Knowing where these arrivals fall helps you feel the phrasing and anticipate the next chord.

Improvisation tips

A major pentatonic and F# minor pentatonic are the same five notes (A – B – C# – E – F#): start from A for a brighter phrase, from F# for a bluesier one.
Over A, land on A, C#, E — the chord's own tones always sound right on strong beats.
Over F#m, land on F#, A, C# — the chord's own tones always sound right on strong beats.
Over Dadd9, land on D, F#, A — the chord's own tones always sound right on strong beats.

The song on the circle of fifths

Played in the song — chord of the key
Played — the minor's harmonic V or a secondary dominant
Played — borrowed or outside chord
Home region: IV–I–V and ii–vi–iii

Empty slices are chords the song doesn't use.

Capo and easier keys

With A major shapes

No capo — open A shapes
Capo 2 + G shapes
Capo 5 + E shapes

With F# minor shapes

Capo 2 + Em shapes
Capo 4 + Dm shapes

Easiest keys on guitar

2 semitones down · capo 2 keeps the original pitch
5 semitones up · capo 7 keeps the original pitch

The song's harmonic story

The opening A lays a solid floor for everything that follows. The backbone is A, F#m, Dadd9, E/F# — I–vi–IV–V from the A side, III–i–VI–VII from the F#m side. B7sus4 adds a moment of surprise: secondary dominant V/V — leads to E. Keep an ear on Dadd9 → A (IV → I in A, VI → III in F#m): plagal cadence — the soft 'amen' ending. Ending on A, the song seals A as home.

This analysis is generated from the song's chords by akorculuk's harmony engine using consistent rules. When you change key, the degrees stay the same; only the chord names change.