F sharp Power Chord (F♯5)

1Composition: what it contains

F♯ – C♯

Symbol

F♯5

Also written

F♯5, F♯(no3)

Formula

1 5

Same sound as

G♭5

2Appearance: diagrams and sound

On the guitar

On the ukulele

On the piano

On the staff

On bass and as an arpeggio

3Indications: what it is used for

The heart of rock, punk, metal and grunge guitar. Because it has no third, it works over both major and minor progressions and stays clear under heavy distortion, which turns thirds into muddy noise. It is used for riffs, palm-muted rhythm parts and doubling bass lines. In other styles it appears as an open fifth on piano or strings for a medieval or epic sound, and as a bass-plus-fifth pattern in left-hand piano accompaniment.

4Dosage: how to practise it

On guitar, learn the two-finger shape rooted on the sixth and fifth strings, then the three-finger shape including the octave. Practise moving it along one string with a metronome at 80 BPM in eighth notes, then add palm muting and increase the tempo to 140–180 BPM for punk downstrokes. Practise switching between the two string sets without looking. On piano, play root and fifth in the left hand under a right-hand melody. Ten minutes daily for beginners.

5Warnings and common mistakes

It is not a major chord, even though it is often written as just a letter by mistake: if the song needs a third, play the full triad. Do not let other strings ring; mute them with the side of the fretting finger. With heavy distortion, add only octaves, not thirds. On drop tunings, the shape changes to a one-finger barre. The symbol '5' refers to the fifth interval above the root, not to a fifth chord in a progression.

6Interactions with chords, scales and keys

Scales to play over F♯5

• F sharp Major Scale
• F sharp Natural Minor Scale
• F sharp Harmonic Minor Scale
• F sharp Melodic Minor Scale
• F sharp Dorian Mode
• F sharp Phrygian Mode
• G flat Lydian Mode
• F sharp Mixolydian Mode
• F sharp Major Pentatonic Scale
• F sharp Minor Pentatonic Scale
• F sharp Blues Scale
• F sharp Major Blues Scale
• F sharp Half-Whole Diminished Scale
• F sharp Phrygian Dominant Scale
• F sharp Hungarian Minor Scale
• F sharp Lydian Dominant Scale
• F sharp Double Harmonic Major Scale
• F sharp Bebop Dominant Scale

7Other presentations available

The same chord from every note

C5 C♯5 D5 E♭5 E5 F5 G5 A♭5 A5 B♭5 B5

Other chords on F♯

F♯ F♯m F♯dim F♯aug F♯sus2 F♯sus4 F♯6 F♯m6 F♯7 F♯maj7 F♯m7 F♯m7♭5 F♯dim7 F♯m(maj7) F♯7sus4 F♯add9 F♯m(add9) F♯6/9 F♯9 F♯maj9 F♯m9 F♯11 F♯m11 F♯13 F♯7♭9 F♯7♯9 F♯7♯5 F♯7♭5