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F sharp minor chord

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

The short answer

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

On the keys

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

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

On the staff

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

The F sharp minor 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 minor chord has a root position and two inversions, and all three still sound as F sharp minor.

  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♯ Aright hand 1 3 5, left hand 5 2 1

Keep going

F sharp minor scale

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

A major chord

The relative major shares the same key signature as F sharp minor.

F sharp major chord

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

Questions

How do you build an F sharp minor chord?

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

How many inversions does an F sharp minor chord have?

Two: first inversion puts A 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 minor and the chords around it in PlayPiano, a piano practice app for iPhone and iPad.

Play it in the app