F7 piano chord, F dominant 7th notes and fingering.

The F7 piano chord is F dominant 7th: F, A, C and Eb. It is the F major triad (F, A, C) with a minor seventh (Eb) added on top, ten semitones above the root. A plain 7 in a chord name, as in F7, always means this flat seventh, not the major seventh.

How to play F7 on piano

1. Find F on the keyboard. F is the white key just left of the group of three black keys, next to E with no black key between them.
2. With your right hand, put finger 1 on F, finger 2 on A, finger 3 on C and finger 5 on Eb. Finger 1 is the thumb.
3. Press all four keys together. In root position they run from F4 to Eb5, a reach of 10 semitones. Play chord sounds them together and Arpeggio sounds them one by one, from the bottom up.
4. Click Left hand to see the left hand. It plays F3 to Eb4, one octave lower: F with finger 5, A with finger 3, C with finger 2, Eb with finger 1.
5. The cards under the keyboard hold the four positions, with F, A, C and Eb at the bottom in turn. Play and Arpeggio on a card play that position.
6. Open Note names. As written the keys read F, A, C and Eb. Sharps shows F, A, C and D#, and Flats shows F, A, C and Eb. This chord is written with flats, so As written and Flats match.

How F7 is built

Counted from the root, the formula is 0, 4, 7, 10. Stacked on each other the gaps are 4 + 3 + 3: a major third, a minor third and another minor third. The third (A) and the seventh (Eb) are 6 semitones apart, which is a tritone, the most tense interval in the chord. That pair is what makes the chord lean toward a resolution.

Worked example: the pitch of F4. On a piano tuned to A4 = 440 Hz, a note 4 semitones below A4 has the frequency 440 × 2^(-4/12), which is about 349.23 Hz. A4 is 0 semitones above A4, so 440 × 2^(0/12) gives about 440.00 Hz.

What the keys look like under your hand

F has no black key on its left, because E and F are only a semitone apart, and F# is the black key on its right. One of the four notes is a black key (Eb) and three are white keys (F, A and C). Your little finger plays Eb, a black key with D and E beside it. The little finger is short, so let the hand lean a little toward its edge and aim for the middle of the key.

F7 inversions and fingering

F7 has four positions. In root position F is at the bottom. In the first inversion, A is at the bottom and the chord is written F7/A. In the second inversion, C is at the bottom and the chord is written F7/C. In the third inversion, Eb is at the bottom and the chord is written F7/Eb. The tightest reach, 8 semitones from the lowest key to the highest, is the first inversion. The widest, at 10, is the root position.

The keys that hold F7

F7 fits two of the major and natural minor keys that have a standard key signature, which means every note of it comes from that key's scale. The simplest is Bb major, with 2 flats, where it is chord V7.

Progressions that use F7, with the chord numbers and the chords in that key:

• Bb major: Imaj7-IVmaj7-V7-Imaj7, which is Bbmaj7, Ebmaj7, F7, Bbmaj7, the three-chord cadence of folk, rock and blues.
• G minor: i7-VII7-VImaj7-VII7, which is Gm7, F7, Ebmaj7, F7, a rocking figure between VII and VI.
• Bb major: vi7-IVmaj7-Imaj7-V7, which is Gm7, Ebmaj7, Bbmaj7, F7, the four-chord loop started from the vi chord.

Blues: a 12-bar blues in F is built on F7, Bb7 and C7.

Here is a worked example in Bb major. The chord before F7 in the first progression above is Ebmaj7 (Eb, G, Bb and D). From Ebmaj7 in root position, the closest way to reach F7 is its third inversion (Eb, F, A and C, lowest note first): one note stays where it is, and the others move 5 semitones in total, counting each note against the note in the same place from the bottom.

Look at the top three notes of F7: A, C and Eb make a A diminished chord (A, C and Eb). A dominant 7th is a diminished triad with the root added underneath.

What F7 sounds like

The dominant 7th is restless. Its tritone between A and Eb pulls toward a resolution, and the chord most naturally moves to Bb, a fifth below F. It is the sound of the blues too, where every chord can be a dominant 7th.

Here F7 is the V7 chord in Bb major and the VII7 chord in G minor. In a 12-bar blues in F the three chords are F7, Bb7 and C7. In minor keys the same chord appears as V7 of Bb minor, using the raised seventh of the harmonic minor scale.

A common mistake with F7

A common mistake is pressing E instead of Eb on top, one semitone higher than the seventh of F7. That gives Fmaj7 (F, A, C and E), which sounds soft where F7 sounds restless. Check the top note: it should be the lower of the two keys.

Chords to learn next

Chords close to F7: F major (the same chord without the seventh; shares F, A and C); Fmaj7 (a major seventh instead; shares F, A and C); Fm7 (a minor third instead; shares F, C and Eb); Bb major (the chord it leads to; shares F).

Once F7 feels easy, play it and then Bb major to hear the chord resolve. For chords beyond these six types, and for guitar and ukulele shapes, use the chord finder. To play along with your computer keys, open the virtual piano. The piano chords page lists all 72 chords.