F#m7 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.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About F#m7 — open string voicings
F#m7 is F#, A, C# and E — F#m with the flat seventh added.
It sounds smooth and unhurried. The ii of every major key, so most progressions you already know begin on one of these.
F#m7 notes and formula
| F# | A | C# | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | ♭7 |
Pre-dominant — the ii of a major key, and a tonic in its own right.
Also written F#min7, F#-7 or F# minor 7. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play F#m7
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#m7 has 6 of them, on strings 6-5-4-3-2, strings 6-5-4-3-2-1 and strings 5-4-3-2-1, from the 2nd fret up to the 6th — every inversion the chord has: F# in the bass, A in the bass and E in the bass. The one to learn first is the F# shape at the 2nd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
3 of them sit on strings 6-5-4-3-2, 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 xx4655 — no barre and low, at the 4th fret. None of the shapes for F#m7 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 2nd fret. 2 of the 6 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 2nd fret to the 12th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 242222 | 2nd fret | F#, root position | F# | barred |
| xx4655 | 4th fret | F#, root position | A | all fretted |
| x9797x | 7th fret | F#, root position | F# | all fretted |
| x-9-7-9-10-x | 7th fret | F#, root position | A | all fretted |
| x-9-11-9-10-9 | 9th fret | F#, root position | C# | barred |
| x-x-11-11-10-12 | 10th fret | C#, 2nd inversion | E | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 7 shell, 13 drop 2 and 9 drop 3 voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of F#m7, 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 F#m7
How you get to it. The turn that lands on F#m7 is G#m7♭5 to C#7♭9: the ii and the V of F# minor, which is where a minor tonic is usually arrived at rather than simply begun on.
In which keys. Every note of F#m7 belongs to C# minor (the iv), D major (the iii), E major (the ii), F# minor (the i), A major (the vi) and B minor (the v).
What to play over F#m7
Every note of F#m7 is in F# minor pentatonic, F# blues, F# dorian, F# natural minor and F# phrygian.
Chords near F#m7
Change one note of F#m7 and you have F#m (drop the flat seventh), F#m6 (the flat seventh becomes a sixth), F#m7b5 (the fifth becomes a flat fifth), F#m9 (add the ninth), F#mMaj7 (the flat seventh becomes a major seventh) or F#madd9 (the flat seventh becomes a ninth).
F#m7 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On F#m7’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.