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F sharp major chord

The three notes, the three ways to stack them and which fingers to use.

The short answer

The notes of the F sharp major chord are F sharp, A sharp and C sharp.

On the keys

Keyboard with F sharp, A sharp and C sharp markedF♯A♯C♯

Yellow is the root, the note the chord is named after.

On the staff

Treble and bass staves showing the F sharp major chord in root position: F sharp, A sharp and C sharp

The F sharp major chord in root position. The treble clef is the right hand; the bass clef is the same chord an octave lower for the left.

Inversions

An inversion keeps the same three notes and changes which one is lowest. The F sharp major chord has a root position and two inversions, and all three still sound as F sharp major.

  1. Root positionF♯ A♯ C♯right hand 1 3 5, left hand 5 3 1
  2. First inversionA♯ C♯ F♯right hand 1 2 5, left hand 5 3 1
  3. Second inversionC♯ F♯ A♯right hand 1 3 5, left hand 5 2 1

Keep going

F sharp major scale

The scale this chord is built on: F sharp, G sharp, A sharp, B, C sharp, D sharp and E sharp.

D sharp minor chord

D sharp minor, written here as E flat minor: the same keys on the piano, spelled differently. The relative minor of F sharp major.

F sharp minor chord

Same root, one note different: the third moves a semitone down.

Questions

How do you build an F sharp major chord?

Start on F sharp, add the major third (four semitones) above it, which is A sharp, then the perfect fifth above the root (seven semitones), which is C sharp.

How many inversions does an F sharp major chord have?

Two: first inversion puts A sharp at the bottom and second inversion puts C sharp at the bottom. With root position that makes three ways to play the same chord.

Practise F sharp major and the chords around it in PlayPiano, a piano practice app for iPhone and iPad.

Play it in the app