Chords in the Key of F Minor
The key of F minor contains seven chords: Fm, Gdim, Ab, Bbm, Cm, Db and Eb. Its key signature has four flats, Bb, Eb, Ab and Db, and on guitar there is no open shape in the whole key, so it is barres all the way unless you use a capo.
The seven chords on guitar
Each chord below opens its own page, with more shapes up the neck, audio for every voicing and a printable chart. Tap the play button on any card to hear it.
The seven chords on piano
The same seven chords on a keyboard, in root position. Each one opens its own page, with every inversion and the finger numbers for both hands.
iFmF A♭ C 
the home chord
ii°GdimG B♭ D♭ 
the tense one, used sparingly
IIIAbA♭ C E♭ 
the relative major, the bright lift
ivBbmB♭ D♭ F 
the darker step away from home
vCmC E♭ G 
the pull home, usually played major
VIDbC♯ F G♯ 
the warm place to rest, filed as C#
VIIEbE♭ G B♭ 
a step below home, the rock cadence
The seventh chords in F minor
Add one more note to each chord and the key gains its seventh chords, which is where most jazz and a good deal of soul begins.
Common progressions in F minor
- i - VI - III - VII
Fm Db Ab Eb
The most common minor progression in popular music, and the same four chords as the Ab major loop starting from a different place. With a capo at the first fret it becomes Em, C, G and D, which is about as easy as guitar gets.
- i - VII - VI
Fm Eb Db
Three chords walking down in steps. This is the sound of most minor key rock, and it is the progression that makes the hard barres worth it, because the descent is very plain without a capo helping it along.
- i - iv - v
Fm Bbm Cm
The saddest of the four, because all three chords are minor and nothing pulls hard. It is also the heaviest on guitar: three barres in a row. Swap the Cm for C or C7 and the ending suddenly sounds resolved, which is the harmonic minor change at work.
- i - iv - VII - III
Fm Bbm Eb Ab
A circling progression that keeps drifting toward the relative major. Play it around a few times and Ab starts to feel like home, which shows how close F minor and Ab major really sit.
Why these seven chords
On a stave, F minor is written with four flats, Bb, Eb, Ab and Db, which is how a reader knows the key before playing a note.
The seven chords come from the F natural minor scale, one chord built on each note using only notes from that scale. The pattern of qualities is the same in every minor key: minor, diminished, major, minor, minor, major, major. Written as numerals that is i, ii dim, III, iv, v, VI and VII, so Fm is home, Gdim is the odd one almost nobody plays, and Ab, Db and Eb are the three major chords you lean on.
Two chords need a closer look. The VII, Eb, is a major chord a whole step below the home chord, and the drop from Fm to Eb is the sound of a great deal of rock, soul and film writing. The v, Cm, is minor in the natural minor scale, but songs constantly raise its third and play it major instead, as C or more often C7. That raised note, E natural, is the leading note borrowed from the harmonic minor scale, and it is what makes the return to Fm feel finished. C7 is the one chord you will meet again and again in F minor that is not in the list of seven, so do not be thrown when a chart shows it. F minor is a staple key in soul, funk and film music, and that C7 is a large part of why it sounds the way it does.
On guitar
F minor is honestly a hard key on guitar, and it is worth saying so. Not one of the seven chords has a standard open shape. Fm is an E shape barre at the first fret, Bbm is an A shape barre at the first fret, Cm is an A shape barre at the third fret, Ab is an E shape barre at the fourth fret, Db is an A shape barre at the fourth fret, and Eb is an A shape barre at the sixth fret or an E shape barre at the eleventh. Gdim is rare enough in songs that most players in this key never learn a shape for it.
The route that fixes this is a capo at the first fret playing E minor shapes. With the capo there, Em becomes Fm, G becomes Ab, Am becomes Bbm, Bm becomes Cm, C becomes Db and D becomes Eb, so the whole key turns into open chords and only the Bm shape still needs a barre. That means a song in F minor can be played with the ringing open sound of E minor, which is why so many recordings in this key were made with a capo on the first fret. If you want the raised v, the B7 shape with the capo at fret 1 gives you C7. Without a capo, the fallback is to keep the barres but play them on the top four strings, which is lighter on the hand and still correct.
On piano
F minor uses four black keys. The scale is F, G, Ab, Bb, C, Db and Eb, so every note above F except G and C is black. The hand sits high on the keys, with the thumb naturally on the white notes F, G and C, which is the same feel as Ab major because the two keys share a key signature.
Some chords fall better than others. Fm and Cm sit comfortably. Db and Ab both put two black keys under the middle of the hand, which is easy once you let the hand move forward on the keys rather than staying at the front edge. Bbm can feel cramped at first because the thumb lands on Bb, a black key, and the fifth finger on F, a white one. When a song plays the v as C or C7, the E natural is a white key that is not in the scale, and hearing it appear is the clearest way to feel the harmonic minor pull. Every triad and seventh on the site shows all of its inversions with fingering for both hands, which is the fastest way to find a path from Fm to Db to Eb without lifting the hand off the keyboard.
Questions about the key of F Minor
What are the 7 chords in the key of F minor?
Fm, Gdim, Ab, Bbm, Cm, Db and Eb. Fm, Bbm and Cm are minor, Ab, Db and Eb are major, and Gdim is diminished.
What is the relative major of F minor?
Ab major. It has the same key signature, four flats, and exactly the same seven chords. The only difference is which chord feels like home: Ab in Ab major, Fm in F minor.
How many flats does F minor have?
Four: Bb, Eb, Ab and Db. The scale is F, G, Ab, Bb, C, Db and Eb.
Why do songs in F minor use a C or C7 chord?
The fifth chord of the natural minor scale is Cm, but raising its third to E natural turns it into C or C7 and creates a strong pull back to Fm. That raised note comes from the harmonic minor scale, and C7 is the one common chord in F minor that is not one of the seven.
How do I play F minor on guitar with a capo?
Put a capo on the first fret and play E minor shapes. Em becomes Fm, G becomes Ab, Am becomes Bbm, Bm becomes Cm, C becomes Db and D becomes Eb, so the whole key turns into open chords instead of six barres.
Is F minor hard on guitar?
Without a capo, yes. None of the seven chords has an open shape, so every one of them is a barre. A capo at the first fret with E minor shapes removes that problem completely.
What do the numbers next to each chord mean?
They are each chord's place in the key, written as Roman numerals. In F minor the i is Fm, the iv is Bbm and the v is Cm. The numbering holds in every key, so the v of A minor is Em. That is why progressions get written as numerals like i, VI, III, VII: learn one and you have it in all twelve minor keys.
Why are some numerals capitals and some lowercase?
The case tells you the chord quality. Lowercase are minor, which in F minor means Fm, Bbm and Cm. Capitals are major: Ab, Db and Eb. The small circle on ii° means diminished, and here that is Gdim.
What is the relative major of F minor?
Ab major. It is written with four flats, Bb, Eb, Ab and Db, the same signature as F minor, and it contains the same seven chords. Only the chord that sounds like home changes, from Fm to Ab.
The relative major
Ab major is written with the same four flats, Bb, Eb, Ab and Db and contains the same seven chords as F minor. What changes is which one sounds like home, so the same shapes can be played brighter without learning anything new. Chords in the key of Ab