Fm7

F1A♭♭3C5E♭♭7

Minor triad with a minor seventh. The same four notes as a major sixth chord a third above.

on guitar on piano the scale

Every fingering that fits a hand

Fig. 2

x546

easy · no 5

Fig. 3

acbb

hard

Fig. 4

a8bb

hard · no 5

Fig. 5

a8b8

hard · no 5

Fig. 6

a8bx

easy · no 5

What is true of it

Fm7 is F, A♭, C and E♭ — 1, b3, 5 and b7 counted from F.

These are also the notes of A♭6/F and G♯6/F. Which name is right depends on what is underneath and what came before — the notes alone do not decide.

On an instrument that cannot reach all 4, the 5 goes first, in that order.

The easiest of the 5 fingerings below is x546: 3 fingers, held at the 4th fret.

None of them uses an open string, so this chord moves up the neck unchanged — the same shape 1 fret higher is the chord a semitone above.

It leaves out the 5. 4 strings cannot carry 4 notes, and the 5 is the one this chord can lose without changing what it is.

1 string stays silent.

Where its notes are on the neck

Fig. 7 — first 12 frets

The brass dots are F, the root. Everything else is a chord tone with its degree printed in it.

With a different note underneath

first inversion

Fm7/A♭

1313

second inversion

Fm7/C

5546

third inversion

Fm7/E♭

8888

An inversion is the same chord with a different note lowest. The name changes to a slash name because the bass is what a listener hears as the foundation.

F in other shapes

F7dominant seventh Fmaj7major seventh Fm(maj7)minor major seventh Fmajor Fmminor Fdimdiminished

Cm7 C♯m7 D♭m7 Dm7 D♯m7 E♭m7 Em7 F♯m7 all 374