F7 Chord on Guitar, Piano and Ukelele – How to Play the Dominant seventh

The F dominant 7th chord (F7) is built from a root note (F), a major third (A), a perfect fifth (C) and a minor seventh (E♭):

F7 chord [Musical explanation]

The F dominant seventh chord is a tetrad with formula 1 – 3 – 5 – ♭7. Therefore, to build it we need F (1), A (3), C (5) and E♭ (♭7):

This is due to the fact that a dominant seventh chord is made up of 3 third intervals:

If we apply this principle to the F7 chord we obtain that:

Thus, this confirms that a major seventh chord is defined by:

Root (F) – Major Third (A) – Perfect Fifth (C) – Minor Seventh (E♭)

To sum up, in order to build the F7 chord we need to add the minor seventh (7th) to the F major chord.

F7 Guitar Chord

The F7 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 F7 on guitar.

Let’s start by analyzing the two circles in blue, which indicate that on the strings 5 (A) and 3 (G) we have to place the fingers 3 (ring finger) and 2 (middle). 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 E♭ A C F

This simply means that in the:

And at the bottom we find the numbers:

1  5  ♭7 3 5 1

This indicates that in the:

⚠️ Important: it is not mandatory to memorize all this information to play the F7 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 dominant 7 guitar chord

In addition to the diagram shown at the beginning of the article, we can also find the F7 chord in the following fretboard positions:

F7 chord inversions

The 3 inversions of the F 7th chord are:

F7 Ukulele Chord

Here you can see as well the F7 uke chord diagram:

F7 Piano Chord

To play the F7 chord on piano we only need to find the same music notes on its keys:

Third Inversión (F7/E♭)

Music scales in which the F minor 7th chord can be found

• A# major scale (armonizada por cuatríadas)
  • A#maj7 Cm7 Dm7 D#maj7 F7 Gm7 Am7♭5
• G natural minor scale (armonizada por cuatríadas)
  • Gm7 Am7♭5 B♭maj7 Cm7 Dm7 E♭maj7 F7
• A# harmonic minor scale (armonizada por cuatríadas)
  • A#m(maj7) Cm7♭5 D♭maj7#5 D#m7 F7 F#maj7 Adim7
• C melodic minor scale (armonizada por cuatríadas)
  • Cm(maj7) Dm7 E♭maj7#5 F7 G7 Adim7 Bm7♭5
• A# melodic minor scale (armonizada por cuatríadas)
  • A#m(maj7) Cm7 D♭maj7#5 D#7 F7 Gdim7 Am7♭5

F7 Chord PDF

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