About F — triad voicings
F is F, A and C.
It sounds plain and completely at rest. The reference every other chord on this page is a modification of.
F notes and formula
| F | A | C |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 |
Tonic — the chord a progression stops on.
Also written Fmaj, FM or F major. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play F
Three notes on one string set. No seventh, so nothing is claimed about the chord beyond its quality.
Thin on their own, excellent over a bass line or against someone else’s harmony.
F has 47 of them, on the high-middle three, the top three strings, the top four strings, the bottom four strings, the middle four strings, the low-middle three, the bottom three strings, strings 6-4-3-2 and strings 5-3-2-1, from open position up to the 14th — every inversion the chord has: F in the bass, A in the bass and C in the bass. The one to learn first is the F shape at the nut, which is the easiest grip here.
6 of them sit on the top four strings, so you can run the inversions up one set without changing strings — which is the whole reason to learn them as a family rather than as separate grips.
Start with xx3565 — no barre and low, at the 3rd fret. None of the shapes for F uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 1st fret. 5 of the 7 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 15th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 133211 | 1st fret | F, root position | F | barred |
| xx3565 | 3rd fret | F, root position | A | all fretted |
| x87565 | 5th fret | F, root position | A | all fretted |
| x-8-10-10-10-8 | 8th fret | F, root position | C | barred |
| 13-12-10-10-10-13 | 10th fret | F, root position | F | barred |
| x-x-10-10-10-13 | 10th fret | C, 2nd inversion | F | barred |
| 13-15-15-14-13-13 | 13th fret | F, root position | F | barred |
How to use F
How you get to it. The turn that lands on F 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 F belongs to C major (the IV), D minor (the ♭III), F major (the I), G minor (the ♭VII), A minor (the ♭VI) and Bb major (the V).
What to play over F
Every note of F is in F major pentatonic, F major, F lydian, F mixolydian and F lydian dominant.
Chords near F
Change one note of F and you have Fm (the major third becomes a minor third), Fsus2 (the major third becomes a ninth), Fsus4 (the major third becomes a fourth), Fmaj7 (add the major seventh), Fadd9 (add the ninth) or F5 (drop the major third).
F is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major chords on every root.
On F’s sound and use this page follows Edward Aldwell & Carl Schachter, Harmony and Voice Leading (Schirmer / Cengage, 4th ed., 2011). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.