F major chord
The first barre chord, and the one a lot of beginners quit on.
- How it sounds
- Bright and forward, the chord that lifts away from home. The full barre sounds dense and even. The small four-string grip is lighter and sits well under a melody.
- Where it lives
- The IV of C major, the V of B♭, the VI of A minor. In a song in C it’s where things open up before coming back: the chorus, the middle eight. Pop and folk lean on it for that lift, and the Amen at the end of a hymn in C is F going to C. In jazz, F is one of the two usual keys for a blues at a jam, with B♭.
Voicings across the neck
F, A and C can be played in five places on the neck, each built from a different open chord shape, and none of them is open. Neighbouring forms share a root, so each one hands over to the next, from the 1st fret up to the 13th. The lowest is the E form at the 1st fret, the full barre. If that won’t ring yet, the D form at the 3rd uses only the top four strings and needs no barre at all. The A form at the 8th puts the root on the A string.
- High E string: F at fret 1
- B string: C at fret 1
- G string: A at fret 2
- D string: F at fret 3
- A string: C at fret 3
- Low E string: F at fret 1
- High E string: A at fret 5
- B string: F at fret 6
- G string: C at fret 5
- D string: F at fret 3
- A string: not played
- Low E string: not played
- High E string: A at fret 5
- B string: F at fret 6
- G string: C at fret 5
- D string: A at fret 7
- A string: F at fret 8
- Low E string: not played
- High E string: C at fret 8
- B string: A at fret 10
- G string: F at fret 10
- D string: C at fret 10
- A string: F at fret 8
- Low E string: not played
- High E string: F at fret 13
- B string: A at fret 10
- G string: F at fret 10
- D string: C at fret 10
- A string: A at fret 12
- Low E string: F at fret 13
Formula
| Intervals | Notes | Semitones |
|---|---|---|
| R · M3 · P5: what each interval does in a chord | F · A · C | 4 + 3 |
F major is a root, a major third and a perfect fifth: F, A and C. Start on the fourth note of the C major scale and skip every other one, and those are the three you get. Four then three is what makes a chord major. Turn the gaps round and A drops to A♭, which gives F minor.
In these keys and scales
F major turns up in twelve scales on the site, and it’s home only in F major. In C major it’s the IV and in B♭ major the V, and B♭ harmonic minor and B♭ melodic minor keep it as their V too. In D minor it’s the III, the relative major, and in A minor the VI. The numeral beside each scale names the job, and the name opens that scale’s page.
| Family | Scales |
|---|---|
| Major | |
| Natural minor | |
| Harmonic minor | |
| Melodic minor | |
| Pentatonic |
Progressions
In all three F is the IV of C, and it never gets the last word. In I–IV–V it’s the step up from home. In IV–V–I it starts the move, G builds the pull and C resolves it. In vi–IV–I–V it follows A minor, and the two share A and C, so the change is small.