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 F#maj, F#M 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 45 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 5-3-2-1 and strings 6-4-3-2, 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 2nd fret, 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 xx4676 — no barre and low, at the 4th fret. None of the shapes for F# 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 244322 | 2nd fret | F#, root position | F# | barred |
| xx4676 | 4th fret | F#, root position | A# | all fretted |
| x98676 | 6th fret | F#, root position | A# | all fretted |
| x-9-11-11-11-9 | 9th fret | F#, root position | C# | barred |
| 14-13-11-11-11-14 | 11th fret | F#, root position | F# | barred |
| x-x-11-11-11-14 | 11th fret | C#, 2nd inversion | F# | barred |
How to use F#
How you get to it. The turn that lands on F# is G#m7 to C#7 — the ii and the V of F# — and C#7 shares its third and seventh with G#m7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of F# belongs to C# major (the IV), Eb minor (the ♭III), F# major (the I), Ab minor (the ♭VII), Bb minor (the ♭VI) and B 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 F#m (the major third becomes a minor third), F#sus2 (the major third becomes a ninth), F#sus4 (the major third becomes a fourth), F#maj7 (add the major seventh), F#add9 (add the ninth) or F#5 (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.