F#7 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.
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About F#7 — shell 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
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.
F#7 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 14th — 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 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 13 drop 2, 9 drop 3 and 6 open string 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.