The F#6 chord
The F#6 (F# - A# - C# - D#) is a major sixth, which is why it sounds a nostalgic major chord, common in jazz and old-time pop. Writers pick it for nostalgia, big-band warmth, a country swing, and you can find it across jazz standards and old-time country. On guitar the chord sits comfortably under a barre at the second fret; on piano it stacks straight up under the right hand. The page below covers the voicings worth memorising, the theory, the progressions where the F#6 earns its keep, and the records that lean on it.
Hear the F#6 in the chord builder →Voicings for F#6
Common ways to grip the F#6 on guitar and piano. Guitar diagrams read low E to high E left-to-right; an × means muted, an open circle above the nut means an open string. Filled dots are fretted notes.
Guitar , full chord shapes
CAGED-derived voicings for F#6 across the neck. Pick the shape closest to where your hand already sits.
Guitar , triad shapes
Three-note triad shapes on each string set, shown moving up the neck. Light textures for arpeggios, pop layering and chord-melody work.
Piano voicings
Root position and inversions. The bass note matters: each inversion changes how the chord sits under a melody.
The theory behind F#6
Progressions that use F#6
Short progressions that put the F#6 to work. Each one is shown in a different key so you can pick the one that suits your singer.
This chord appears as a borrowed or passing chord in many major-key progressions.
→ Build this in the chord builderSongs that feature F#6
Real records where this chord does structural work. No lyrics quoted, just the title and artist so you can pull up a copy and hear it in context.
Related chords
Chords a step away from the F#6 in the songwriting circle, the natural neighbours when you want a substitution.
Keys where F#6 lives
The keys where this chord turns up diatonically. Open any key page for the full set of progressions that lean on it.
Related references
Other ways to put the F#6 to work across the reference library.
More songwriting tools
Got the chord but still wrestling with the lyric? Find the right rhyme in RhymeForge, or break a writer's block with the unexpected word-pair generator in CollisionLab. Need to map a full progression? The chord builder on the home page is where the F#6 fits into context. All free, no signup.
About the chord builder
The Undercover Zest chord progression builder is a free interactive tool that maps every diatonic and borrowed chord in every key. Click a Roman numeral to hear it, drag chords into a progression, then audition voicings, inversions and tensions until the song clicks.
This page is a static reference for the F#6. For interactive playback, voice-leading hints and substitution suggestions, open the chord builder above.