F major 7 guitar chord (Fmaj7)

How to play Fmaj7

Finger numbers run 1 for the index to 4 for the little finger. String names are given as players say them — the low E is the thickest string (the 6th) and the high E is the thinnest (the 1st).

1. 1st finger (index) — 1st fret, B string
2. 2nd finger (middle) — 2nd fret, G string
3. 3rd finger (ring) — 3rd fret, D string

• Play open: high E (1st) — strum it without fretting anything.
• Leave out: low E (6th) and A (5th) — start the strum below them, or damp them with the side of the thumb.

Notes and intervals in Fmaj7

Fmaj7 is built from 4 notes: F, A, C and E.

• F — the root (R)
• A — the major 3rd (3)
• C — the perfect 5th (5)
• E — the major 7th (7)

Across the six strings the shape sounds F · A · C · E from low to high, so some notes are doubled in different octaves — that is what gives an open guitar chord its width compared with the same chord on a keyboard.

What Fmaj7 is used for

Fmaj7 is the F barre with its awkward parts removed: four strings, three fingers stepping down a neat diagonal, and the open high E supplying the major 7th. It stands in for F in the key of C most of the time and gives a progression a soft, unresolved colour instead of the plain landing a straight F provides.

Common mistakes with Fmaj7

• Strumming the bottom two strings. Fmaj7 starts at the D string; the 5th and 6th add notes that blur the major 7th.
• Muting the open high E. That open string is the major 7th, and without it the chord loses the whole reason you chose it.
• Treating it as a straight replacement for F everywhere. In louder, plainer playing the barred F carries better; Fmaj7 is the gentler option, not the easy way out.

Chords that go with Fmaj7

Same-root variations first, then the chords a fourth and a fifth away — the shapes Fmaj7 is most often played alongside.

• F major
• C major