F sharp minor 7 is one of the most frequently seen 7th chords, often found alongside Major and Dominant 7th chords.
Each chord possesses its own distinct note interval quality that shapes its overall sound. The table above illustrates these qualities with their short interval names/abbreviations.
Key of F
F Sharp Minor 7th is an essential chord to know for any guitarist and is widely considered one of the three most common chords, along with Major 7, Dominant 7, and I-IV chords. This chord can be written many ways; an “i” could indicate its root note while numbers or flattened sevenths could add inversions and/or flattened sevenths could provide keys of diminished chords – although its most commonly played shape is that of movable barre chords that can be played across genres of music.
The interactive piano chart below displays the four notes of an F sharp minor seventh chord, highlighted in red. This diatonic chord built upon F# minor scale features root, minor third, perfect fifth and minor seventh. It is an excellent beginner chord to start learning as its standard barred chord shape can be learned with only two left hand barre fingers.
This lesson introduces the F sharp minor scale and its chord qualities (i7, iio7, iv7, v7, VI7 and VII7) on a piano keyboard with audio examples using MP3 and midi files. Furthermore, note interval numbers will be discussed to calculate chord qualities from scale notes; finally the lesson concludes by discussing how to build triads from this minor scale using their chord qualities, and name them accordingly.
Root
F sharp minor 7 begins on an F# root note and builds outward from there to form its inversions. We do this by moving its root up an octave (12 notes), until we reach its final note of chord formation.
This chord features three notes – F#, A and C – and can also be referred to as a minor seventh or suspended chord because its notes lack the third of a major 7th, creating an open sound when played solo.
As with other half diminished chords, it is formed using notes in the key of F#: the first, flat 3rd, flat 5th and flat 7th intervals. Below is a table that lists these intervals; bracketed short abbreviations indicate what scale notes were used in their calculation – and what chords are formed as a result.
In the next lesson step, we will start from the root chord and create a full 7th chord using only notes 1, 3, 5, 7 from F# natural minor scale. After that, we will construct its 2nd inversion and so on until all types of 7th chords have been covered. Every step builds different types of 7th chords so be sure to refer back to previous steps for note interval names and positions to gain a better understanding of how all these different 7th chords are constructed.
Major 3rd
Contrasting with minor 7th chord voicings with a flat 5th, this F sharp minor 7th contains an added flat 7th for greater root note pull back – ideal for classical and jazz settings.
To play this voicing, bar across all six strings on the 2nd fret and use pinky finger to finger the movable 5th fret with your pinky. This voicing can be played in both major and minor keys.
Music theory offers various note interval qualities to describe chords, as well as individual notes within them. Below is a table with all these qualities and their short abbreviations in addition to their respective chord types in F# key.
The Roman numeral VI refers to the 6th scale degree of F# natural minor scale. This chord can also be called an E dominant 7th chord; when inverted it could indicate it as being D dominant 7th chord with 3rd inversion.
To invert a chord, take the initial note of its inversion above it and move it up an octave (12 notes), so that it becomes the last note in the chord. This will create the F sharp minor 7th chord in its 3rd inversion – illustrated here on both treble and bass clefs with 6/4/3 symbols so as to indicate this placement within six-four-two position.
Minor 3rd
F# minor 7 chord is composed of the root note (root), flat 3rd degree (3b), 5th degree flat third degree, and fifth degree of the F sharp major scale. F#m7 chord contains first degree root note (3a), flat third degree degree 3b (3c) and fifth degree flat seventh (F#m7) from this same scale – when playing these together they can be described as arpeggiated chords.
Below is a table displaying the qualities of triad chords formed from minor scale scales. Included are note intervals which make up each triad as well as chord notes that form these triads.
For an F sharp minor 7th chord to form, we must first form a minor scale diatonic chord by layering two generic third notes above each scale note and stacking them on top of one another. Each diatonic chord then needs to be lowered one octave further until we achieve the final product as seen below in the chord chart.
This procedure can then be repeated for the other minor scale 7th chords that make up the set of diatonic chords for a minor scale, including i7, iio7, iv7, v7 and vi7. When completed, these seven chords can then be given individual names using roman numerals; for instance i7 forms the root of F sharp minor scale and its submediant 7th chords VII7, iv7 and vii7 are each given special designation.
Major 2nd
F sharp minor major 7 has a major 2nd interval between fifth and sixth notes as well as between seventh and eighth notes – this makes up its major 2nd quality. Furthermore, this chord includes both minor third and perfect fifth features for maximum dominance; therefore it may sometimes be known as double major seventh chord.
To determine the major 2nd of any chord, you need to examine its interval structure. This table displays note intervals for all of the chord qualities found in F# key; first column shows scale note name while last column gives chord quality (minor 7th or major 2nd) Named according to triad chord quality so 3rd, 5th and 7th scale note names may require adjustment by one or more half-notes/semitones/piano keys depending on key.
To determine the major 2nd of a F sharp minor 7 chord, take note from column three and move it to chord’s end note – originally G-F but when inverted it becomes F-G – creating a major 2nd interval that is an entire tone larger than minor 2nd of E-F.
Minor 7th
F sharp minor 7th (F#m7) chord is an integral and commonly-used chord found in A Major, E Major and D Major keys. Additionally, it’s also popular among beginners learning the guitar as its finger positions make learning it less daunting; open or barre chord versions require placing your index finger directly below the nut fret for best results.
As with the major 7th, a minor 7th can be composed by taking the 1st, minor 3rd, and perfect 5th from any scale of interest to create a minor triad that will later be expanded upon by adding in its respective minor 7th note.
Each chord possesses its own interval quality and its notes can be identified using the appropriate scale interval table. The table displays scale note numbers in the top row followed by their short names followed by final chord note names for various inversions of triad chords.
F#m7b5 chord can be formed by playing its 2nd inversion: root, flat 3rd, flat 5th and flat 7th notes from F# minor scale in sequence – producing a half diminished chord that sounds similar to an F#m7 with its flat 7th reduced by one semitone.