Chord builder · Chord page

The F#m chord

Built from F# - A - C#, the F#m is a minor triad that sounds an everyday minor with body. It lives at the centre of any minor-key songbook, and it does its work quietly. Take On Me opens on F#m. Modern alt-rock has lived in this chord ever since. What follows below: the voicings worth memorising on guitar and piano, the theory in plain language, progressions in two or three different keys, and a short list of real records that lean on the chord.

Hear the F#m in the chord builder →

Voicings for F#m

Common ways to grip the F#m 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#m across the neck. Pick the shape closest to where your hand already sits.

Guitar: Em shape at fr.2

Notes: F# - A - C# (chord tones)

Guitar: Am shape at fr.9

Notes: F# - A - C# (chord tones)

Guitar: Dm shape at fr.4

Notes: F# - A - C# (chord tones)

Guitar: top-4 voicing

Notes: F# - A - C# (chord tones)

Guitar: high top-4 voicing

Notes: F# - A - C# (chord tones)

Guitar , triad shapes

Three-note voicings on three adjacent strings. Light textures for arpeggios, pop layering and chord-melody work.

Triad: top-string triad

Notes: 3-note voicing on adjacent strings

Triad: middle-string triad

Notes: 3-note voicing on adjacent strings

Triad: bass-side triad

Notes: 3-note voicing on adjacent strings

Piano voicings

Root position and inversions. The bass note matters: each inversion changes how the chord sits under a melody.

Piano: root position

Notes: F# - A - C#. Root F# at the bottom. The classic stacked-thirds spelling of a minor triad.

Piano: first inversion

Notes: A - C# - F#. A at the bottom. Common in chord-melody, walking bass lines and gentler voicings.

Piano: second inversion

Notes: C# - F# - A. C# at the bottom. A floating, suspended feel often used in hymns and ballads.

The theory behind F#m

Spell out the F#m and you get F# - A - C#. The intervals from the root are root, minor third, perfect fifth, which is the recipe for a minor triad. In D major the chord plays the role of Mediant (iii); in A major it shows up as Submediant (vi). Its preferred next move is move to its relative major or step down to the bVII, which is what makes it useful in any minor-key song.

Progressions that use F#m

Short progressions that put the F#m to work. Each one is shown in a different key so you can pick the one that suits your singer.

I→V→vi→IV key of A major

A - E - F#m - D

The four-chord engine behind a thousand pop hits. The lift from I to V opens the chorus, vi pulls down into feeling, IV walks back toward home.

→ Build this in the chord builder

ii→V→I key of E major

F#m - B - E

The cornerstone of every jazz standard. ii sets up the dominant, V resolves home with full gravity. Add a seventh on each chord for the canonical sound.

→ Build this in the chord builder

i→iv→V→i key of B minor

Bm - Em - F#m - Bm

The classical pull. The V is borrowed from harmonic minor (a major V instead of v), creating a sharper push back to the tonic. Used in flamenco, classical and metal alike.

→ Build this in the chord builder

i→VI→III→VII key of F# minor

F#m - D - A - E

Heroic minor four-chord. The descent from i to VI to III gives the verse weight, VII slingshots back to the tonic. The Andalusian cousin of the pop axis.

→ Build this in the chord builder

Songs that feature F#m

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.

Take On Me by a-ha. F#m as the home chord of the iconic verse.
Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana. F#m voicing inside the verse.
Numb by Linkin Park. F#m as the song's centre of gravity.

Related chords

Chords a step away from the F#m in the songwriting circle, the natural neighbours when you want a substitution.

DomF#7 NeighbourC#m NeighbourB NeighbourBm NeighbourB7 RelativeA

Keys where F#m lives

The keys where this chord turns up diatonically. Open any key page for the full set of progressions that lean on it.

D major A major E major B minor

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#m 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#m. For interactive playback, voice-leading hints and substitution suggestions, open the chord builder above.