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The Fm chord (F minor) on guitar

F minor asks more of the first finger than F major does, so do not start with the full barre. Start on three strings, add one string at a time, and only go to six when the smaller shapes ring clean. Each step below is a real F minor, not a placeholder, so you can use it in a song from day one.

Fm chord: notes and shapes at a glance

  • Name: F minor
  • Symbol: Fm
  • Notes: F, Ab, C
  • Where it belongs: iii in Db major, ii in Eb major, vi in Ab major, iv in C minor, i in F minor

Each shape below is written from the thickest string to the thinnest: a number is the fret, 0 an open string, x a string you do not play. New to this? See how to read chord diagrams.

Shape Frets, low E to high E Notes, low to high What it is for
Fm, three strings xx311x F Ab C The way in: F, Ab and C with no full barre. Small, but a real F minor.
Fm, four strings xx3111 F Ab C F Adds F on the high E. The first finger now covers three strings at fret 1.
Fm, five strings x33111 C F Ab C F Fuller, with C on the fifth string in the bass. Good when the low E is in the way.
Fm, barre 133111 F C F Ab C F The standard F minor: the E minor shape moved up one fret, with the first finger as the nut.
Fm, eighth fret x 8 10 10 9 8 F C F Ab C The A minor shape barred at fret 8: first finger across, third and fourth fingers at fret 10, second finger on the B string at fret 9.
Fm, three strings x x 3 1 1 x · · 3 1 1 · fingers
Fm, four strings x x 3 1 1 1 · · 3 1 1 1 fingers
Fm, five strings x 3 3 1 1 1 · 3 4 1 1 1 fingers
Fm, barre 1 3 3 1 1 1 1 3 4 1 1 1 fingers
Fm, eighth fret x 8 10 10 9 8

Read each diagram from the thickest string on the left to the thinnest on the right. A cross means the string is not played, a circle means it rings open.

Fm on the neck: every F, Ab, C

Standard tuning, frets 0 to 12. The highlighted notes are the notes of Fm: any shape you build from them, anywhere on the neck, is still Fm.

Fretboard notes
Swipe the fretboard sideways to see every fret.
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
1 - E
E
F
Gb
G
Ab
A
Bb
B
C
Db
D
Eb
E
2 - B
B
C
Db
D
Eb
E
F
Gb
G
Ab
A
Bb
B
3 - G
G
Ab
A
Bb
B
C
Db
D
Eb
E
F
Gb
G
4 - D
D
Eb
E
F
Gb
G
Ab
A
Bb
B
C
Db
D
5 - A
A
Bb
B
C
Db
D
Eb
E
F
Gb
G
Ab
A
6 - E
E
F
Gb
G
Ab
A
Bb
B
C
Db
D
Eb
E

Building Fm one string at a time

  1. xx311x. Third finger on the fourth string at fret 3 (F). Lay the first finger flat across the third and second strings at fret 1 (Ab and C). Strum only those three strings.
  2. xx3111. Let the first finger reach one string further, onto the high E. Same chord, one more F on top.
  3. x33111. Add the fourth finger on the fifth string at fret 3. That C in the bass makes the chord fuller; it is technically Fm over C, which is fine in most strummed songs.
  4. 133111. Stretch the barre over all six strings and move the third and fourth fingers to the fifth and fourth strings. Now F is the lowest note.

There is a stage between three and four if your hand likes it: wrap the thumb over the neck to play F on the low E at fret 1, mute the fifth string with the same thumb, and keep xx3111 for the rest. That is 1x3111, a full sounding Fm without a six string barre.

F to Fm: one note, one fret

The only difference between F and F minor is the third: A in F major, Ab in F minor. On the neck it sits on the third string.

Chord Small shape Barre Third string
F xx321x 133211 Fret 2, A
Fm xx311x 133111 Fret 1, Ab

That is also why the Fm barre is harder: in F the second finger holds the third string, in Fm the first finger has to do it alone. If that string dies, roll the first finger slightly onto its bony edge and pull the elbow in toward your body.

The capo shortcut is legitimate: capo at fret 1, play an E minor shape (022000), and you get a complete six string F minor with no barre. The guitar capo chart shows the same trick for every key.

Changes to practice

Change Shapes What to watch
F to Fm xx321x to xx311x Lift the second finger, nothing else moves.
Fm, Ab, Eb, Bb 133111, 466544, x68886, x13331 A barre in every chord. Keep the first finger light between changes and land the shape as a block.
F5 to Ab5 133xxx to 466xxx The rock version of the same move. No third, so no minor color: see power chords.

Where you will hear Fm

Green Day's Boulevard of Broken Dreams is the classic: the verse runs Fm, Ab, Eb, Bb and the chorus comes back to Fm. With a capo at fret 1, those are the open shapes Em, G, D, A. In David Bowie's Space Oddity, Fm appears after the intro, in a C, E, F, Fm, C passage where you hear F turn to F minor, the same one fret move as in the table above.

The keys that contain Fm are listed in the quick answer at the top of this page. In practice you will meet it most as the home chord of F minor, as the relative minor of Ab, and as the borrowed iv of C minor. For how keys build their chords, see chords in every key.

Frequently asked questions

How do you play an F minor chord on guitar?
The standard version is the full barre 133111: first finger across all six strings at fret 1, third finger on the fifth string at fret 3, fourth finger on the fourth string at fret 3. If the barre is not there yet, start with xx311x or xx3111 on the top strings.
Is there an easy Fm chord without a barre?
Yes. xx311x: third finger on the fourth string at fret 3, first finger flat over the third and second strings at fret 1. It holds F, Ab and C, all three notes of the chord. The other easy route is a capo at fret 1 and an E minor shape, 022000.
Why is Fm harder than F?
In F major the third string is held at fret 2 by the second finger. In F minor that note drops to fret 1, so the first finger has to make it ring too. The barre loses its helper, and the G string is the one that usually buzzes.
What notes are in F minor?
F, Ab and C: root, minor third, fifth. The Ab is what makes it minor; F major has A natural instead.
Is F5 the same as Fm?
No. F5, played 133xxx, has only F and C. Without the Ab it is neither major nor minor. It works with distortion, but on an acoustic it leaves out the color of the minor chord.
Yohann Abbou, guitar teacher and founder of Guitar Social Club

Who made this

Guitar Social Club is the work of Yohann Abbou, a guitar teacher in Paris who teaches adults. Every shape on this page is written string by string and checked against standard tuning, and the diagrams are drawn from those same fret numbers. The rest of our free guitar tools, including the chord finder, work the same way.

More about Yohann on his page, and about why Guitar Social Club exists.