F Minor Chord on Guitar
Fm F A♭ C 2 shapes Barre chord
Chord diagrams
How to play F Minor on guitar
The F Minor chord (Fm) is made of F, A♭, C - 1 b3 5. On a guitar in standard tuning the easiest way to play it is the E-shape barre at fret 1 (133111). Below are 2 shapes in all, from the lowest on the neck to the highest; the same chord sounds brighter the higher you play it.
A-shape barre, fret 8 x8(10)(10)98
Strings from the low E (left) to the high E (right). Numbers are fingers: 1 index, 2 middle, 3 ring, 4 little. x = do not play the string, o = open string, a bar = one finger across several strings.
Notes
What notes are in F Minor?
The F Minor chord has 3 different notes: F, A♭, C. Root, minor third (3 half steps up), perfect fifth (7): only the third differs from the major chord. A guitar chord rarely has as many strings as notes, so shapes double some of them: the e-shape barre, fret 1 sounds all six strings.
| Note | Interval from the root | Half steps |
|---|---|---|
| F | Root | 0 |
| A♭ | Minor 3rd | 3 |
| C | Perfect 5th | 7 |
Chords that go with it
Chords in the key of F minor
The seven chords built on the F minor scale, with the easiest shape of each. i, iv and v are the backbone; VI, III and VII are the major chords borrowed from the relative major.
A progression to strum
- i - VI - III - VIIFm - D♭ - A♭ - E♭
Songs
Songs with the Fm chord
Easy songs on this site that use Fm, with the chords over the lyrics and a guitar that plays along.
Questions
Frequently asked
How do you play Fm on guitar?
The E-shape shape 133111: low E string fret 1 (finger 1), A string fret 3 (finger 3), D string fret 3 (finger 4), G string fret 1 (finger 1), B string fret 1 (finger 1), high E string fret 1 (finger 1). Your index finger lies flat across fret 1.
What notes are in the F Minor chord?
The F Minor chord (Fm) is made of F, A♭, C. Its formula is 1 b3 5. On the guitar, some of those notes are played twice on different strings.
Can I play Fm without a barre?
There is no common open shape for Fm in standard tuning, so it is played as a movable shape: e-shape barre, fret 1 (133111) is the lowest on the neck. If a full barre is hard at first, play only the four highest strings of that shape - the root and the third are still there.
Keep playing
Strum Fm, then build a song around it
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