What is "a-flat major"

n. 1 (context music English) The major key with A-flat as its tonic, consisting of the pitches A♭, B♭, C, D♭, E♭, F, and G. 2 (context music English) The major chord with a root of A-flat.

The A-flat major scale (A major scale) consists of the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has four flats.

Its relative minor is F minor, and its parallel minor is A minor, usually replaced by G minor, since A minor, which would contain seven flats, is not normally used. G major, with eight sharps, including the F, has a similar problem, and so A major is often used as the parallel major for G minor.

It was used quite often by Franz Schubert; twenty-four of Frédéric Chopin's piano pieces are in A-flat major, more than any other key.