F Major Chord on Guitar, Piano and Ukulele – How to Play it

The F major chord is built from a root note (F), a major third (A), and a perfect fifth (C):

F chord [Musical explanation]

The F major chord is a major triad with formula 1 – 3 – 5. Therefore, to build it we need F (1), A (3) and C (5):

This is due to the fact that a major chord is made up of 2 third intervals:

If we apply this principle to the F chord we obtain that:

Thus, this confirms that the F major chord is defined by:

Root (F) – Major Third (A) – Perfect Fifth (C)

F Guitar Chord

The F major chord guitar has the following shape on the fretboard:

Let’s analyze in detail this chord diagram above to make sure that we understand how to play the F on guitar:

Let’s start by analyzing the 3 circles in blue, which indicate that on the strings 5 (A), 4 (D) and 3 (G) we have to place the fingers 4 (pinky), 3 (ring finger) and 1 (index). In this case we have to use as well the index finger (1) to press down the strings from 6 to 1.

Note by the way the number 1 in black on the left that indicates on which fret we start playing the chord.

On the other hand, at the top we see that we have the characters:

F C F A C F

This simply means that in the:

And at the bottom we find the numbers:

1  5  1  3 5 1

This indicates that in the:

⚠️ Important: it is not mandatory to memorize all this information to play the F chord on guitar. But it is highly recommended to know it in order to understand the musical theory behind each chord.

Other ways to play the F guitar chord

In addition to the diagram shown at the beginning of the article, we can also find the F chord in the following fretboard positions:

F major triad chords and inversions

Triads

First Inversion (F/A)

Second Inversion (F/C)

What chords are in F major?

The F major scale harmonized results on the following chords:

F (I) – Gm (ii) – Am (iii) – B♭ (IV) – C (V) – Dm (vi) – Eº (viiº)

A very good chord to practice with F is the C chord, since it is the fifth chord in the progression and the dominant.

F Ukulele Chord

Here you can see as well two ways to play the F chord on the uke:

F Piano Chord

To play the F chord on piano we only need to find the same music notes on its keys:

Music scales in which the G major chord can be found

• F major scale (harmonized with triads)
  • F Gm Am B♭ C Dm Edim
• C major scale (harmonized with triads)
  • C Dm Em F G Am Bdim
• A# major scale (harmonized with triads)
  • A# Cm Dm D# F Gm Adim
• D minor natural scale (harmonized with triads)
  • Dm Edim F Gm Am B♭ C
• A natural minor scale (harmonized with triads)
  • Am Bdim C Dm Em F G
• G natural minor scale (harmonized with triads)
  • Gm Adim B♭ Cm Dm E♭ F
• A# harmonic minor scale (harmonized with triads)
  • A#m Cdim D♭aug D#m F G♭ Adim
• A harmonic minor scale (harmonized with triads)
  • Am Bdim Caug Dm E F A♭dim
• C natural minor scale (harmonized with triads)
  • Cm Dm E♭aug F G Adim Bdim
• A# natural minor scale (harmonized with triads)
  • A#m Cm D♭aug D# F Gdim Adim

F Major Chord PDF

If you liked this lesson and want to download it in PDF click here below:

Array