F#7 guitar chord
An open string left ringing against a fretted grip. Because it costs no finger, it sounds a note the closed shape has none left for -- a tension on top, or a pedal root underneath. Either a familiar grip with open strings added, or a shape so sparse the open strings carry the chord. These belong to their key rather than to a shape, so D, A, G and E have many and Eb a handful.
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About F#7 — open string voicings
F#7 is F#, A#, C# and E — F# with the flat seventh added on top.
It sounds restless and pointed at something. The third and the flat seventh are a tritone apart and each moves by a semitone into the next chord; that is the engine of a cadence, and the whole vocabulary of the blues.
F#7 notes and formula
| F# | A# | C# | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | ♭7 |
Dominant — it points a fifth down.
Also written F#dom7 or F# dominant 7. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play F#7
An open string left ringing against a fretted grip. It costs no finger, so it can sound a note the closed shape has none left for: a tension on top, or a pedal root underneath.
These belong to their key rather than to a shape: they cannot be moved up the neck. D, A, G and E have many; E♭ has a handful.
F#7 has 6 of them, on strings 6-5-4-3-2-1, strings 6-4-3-2-1, the bottom four strings and strings 6-4-3-2, from the 4th fret up to the 6th — every inversion the chord has: A# in the bass and E in the bass. The one to learn first is the E shape at the 4th fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with xx4656 — no barre and low, at the 4th fret. None of the shapes for F#7 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 2nd fret. 4 of the 6 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 2nd fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 242322 | 2nd fret | F#, root position | F# | barred |
| xx4656 | 4th fret | F#, root position | A# | all fretted |
| x9897x | 7th fret | F#, root position | F# | all fretted |
| x-9-11-9-11-9 | 9th fret | F#, root position | C# | barred |
| x-x-11-11-11-12 | 11th fret | C#, 2nd inversion | E | barred |
| 14-13-11-11-11-12 | 11th fret | F#, root position | E | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 6 shell, 13 drop 2 and 9 drop 3 voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of F#7, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the b9 (G), the 9 (G#), the #9 (G##), the #11 (B#), the b13 (D) and the 13 (D#).
How to use F#7
F#7 is the V of B, and that is where it goes if it goes anywhere: the third and the flat seventh are a tritone apart, and both resolve by a semitone into B.
Voice by voice, F#7 → B. 2 voices move by a semitone, and one note is common to both chords.
| In F#7 | Moves | In B |
|---|---|---|
| F#, the root | stays where it is | F#, the fifth |
| A#, the major third | rises a semitone | B, the root |
| C#, the fifth | falls a whole tone | B, the root |
| E, the flat seventh | falls a semitone | D#, the major third |
In which keys. Every note of F#7 belongs to Ab minor (the ♭VII) and B major (the V, the dominant).
What to play over F#7
Every note of F#7 is in F# mixolydian, F# lydian dominant and F# half-whole diminished.
Chords near F#7
Change one note of F#7 and you have F# (drop the flat seventh), F#maj7 (the flat seventh becomes a major seventh), F#m7 (the major third becomes a minor third), F#add9 (the flat seventh becomes a ninth), F#6 (the flat seventh becomes a sixth) or F#7sus4 (the major third becomes a fourth).
F#7 is a dominant chord — root, major third, fifth, minor seventh. Dominant seventh chords on every root.
On F#7’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.