Fmaj7 guitar chord
Root, third and seventh: the guide tones fix the quality, so the fifth is dropped. That is what leaves a string free, so pick a tension to put on top.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Fmaj7 — shell voicings
Fmaj7 is F, A, C and E — F with the major seventh added on top.
It sounds lush, and only just resolved. The everyday tonic of jazz, bossa and neo-soul.
Fmaj7 notes and formula
| F | A | C | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 |
Tonic — a resting chord, but a soft one.
Also written FM7, FΔ7, FΔ, Fma7 or F major 7. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Fmaj7
Root, third and seventh. The third and seventh, the guide tones, are what make the chord major, minor or dominant, so the fifth can go: it says nothing the symbol needs.
Three notes means a spare string, which is the real point. Put a tension on it.
Fmaj7 has 6 of them, on the bottom three strings, the low-middle three, strings 6-4-3 and strings 5-3-2, from open position up to the 13th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the F shape at the nut, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with xx3210 — no barre and 1 open string. 1 of the 9 shapes here sits in open position. 5 of the 9 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 15th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 132211 | 1st fret | F, root position | F | barred |
| xx3210 | open position | F, root position | E | 1 open string |
| xx3555 | 3rd fret | F, root position | A | barred |
| x87555 | 5th fret | F, root position | A | barred |
| x8796x | 6th fret | F, root position | F | all fretted |
| x-8-10-9-10-8 | 8th fret | F, root position | C | all fretted |
| x-x-x-10-10-12 | 10th fret | F, root position | E | all fretted |
| x-x-10-10-10-12 | 10th fret | C, 2nd inversion | E | barred |
| 13-15-14-14-13-13 | 13th fret | F, root position | F | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 14 drop 2, 9 drop 3 and 6 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Fmaj7, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 9 (G), the #11 (B) and the 13 (D).
How to use Fmaj7
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Fmaj7 is Gm7 to C7 — the ii and the V of F — and C7 shares its third and seventh with Gm7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of Fmaj7 belongs to C major (the IV, the subdominant), D minor (the ♭III), F major (the I, the tonic) and A minor (the ♭VI).
What to play over Fmaj7
Every note of Fmaj7 is in F major and F lydian.
Chords near Fmaj7
Change one note of Fmaj7 and you have F (drop the major seventh), Fmaj7b5 (the fifth becomes a flat fifth), Fmaj7#5 (the fifth becomes a sharp fifth), Fmaj9 (add the ninth), FmMaj7 (the major third becomes a minor third) or Fadd9 (the major seventh becomes a ninth).
Fmaj7 is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major chords on every root.
On Fmaj7’s sound and use this page follows Mark Levine, The Jazz Theory Book (Sher Music, 1995). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.