The F7 Piano Chord & How to Play It

The F7 piano chord is a great chord to know and understand. It can come up often in beginner and intermediate chord sheets and especially in jazz piano.

Below you'll learn:

the F7 chord notes
fingering for F7 chord
some chord theory for F7

And as F7 comes up in jazz, I will include a few variations on this chord below that might seem more obscure but I know people are searching for. They include:

F7/C
F7/Eb
F7#9
F7#5

Understanding these chords will help you to also understand chord theory and how chords are made.

F7 Piano Notes

The F7 piano chord notes are: F A C Eb.

F7 is a seventh chord and one way to remember the notes of this chord is to play the F chord and then add Eb on top.

Here is the F7 piano chord on the treble clef and piano keys:

Another way to remember all 7th chords is to do this:

play the major chord - F
count down 2 semi-tones from the root note: F (root) - E - Eb
you know Eb is the 7th note in this seventh chord
add Eb to F major and you have F7

How to Play F7 Piano Chord: Video and Sound

This video will show you how to play F7 chord on piano and what F7 sounds like.

Finger Positions for F7 Chord

You can use the same fingers for the F7 chord that you use for all seventh chords in root position.

In your right hand, use fingers 1, 2, 4, 5. That's everything but your middle finger.

In your left hand, use fingers 5, 4, 2, 1. Again that's everything but your middle finger.

F7 Chords & Their Variations

As F7 is often used in jazz piano, I find there are a few common chords people are trying to understand that base themselves in the F7 chord.

F7sus4 Piano Chord

The F7sus, F7sus4 or Fsus7 chord is a suspended seventh chord. This chord can be written a few different ways but it's the same thing.

The F7sus4 is the Fsus chord - F Bb C - with the 7th added on top - Eb.

So that means the F7sus4 piano chord notes are F Bb C Eb.

F7sus / F7sus4 piano chord on treble clef and keys

F7/C Piano Chord

The F7/C is a slash chord. The note that comes after the / is the one that should be played as the bass note. So in the case of F7/C, C is your bass note in the left hand. C is the note that should be played the lowest.

That means that if you are playing the F7 chord in your left hand, you'll need to play it as an inversion so that C is the lowest note. If you mainly play bass notes in your left hand and keep the chord to your right hand, just play C instead of F as your lowest note in the left hand.

F7/Eb Piano Chord

F7/Eb is another type of slash chord and when you see this, it means to play Eb as your lowest note in your left hand. Eb is you bass note. All the other notes of the F7 chord should come above this.

As with F7/C, you may need to play an inversion if playing this chord in your left hand so that you keep Eb as your lowest note.

How Do You Make A F7 Chord (Chord Theory)

Before we get into the other chord variations, it's very useful to understand how an F7 chord is made in terms of theory.

One very good way to understand chords is off of the chord formula and the major scale. You can apply any chord formula to a major scale.

The chord formula for a 7th chord is: 1, 3, 5, b7.

What this means is that we use the 1st, 3rd, 5th and lowered 7th notes of the major scale to make a seventh chord.

If you look at the scale below, you can apply the chord formula for 7th chords to the F major scale (and so make the F7 chord).

1 = F
3 = A
5 = C
7 = E and then we lower that by one semi-tone to Eb. (That's why we write b7).

So we can lower notes and raise notes in chords. Lowered notes are indicated by a flat sign (b) and raised notes are indicated with a sharp sign (#). Each one moves by one semi-tone so that's the very next note, white or black. That's up for # or down for b.

F7#5 Piano Chord

Now that you understand raising and lowering notes and the chord formula for the F7 chord, you can perhaps work out the #5.

If you think back to the formula, 5 indicates the 5th note of the F major scale and a sharp means we raise that note. So C becomes C#.

That means the notes of the F7#5 chord are F A C# Eb.

F7#9 Piano Chord

The F7#9 chord is a little different because you wouldn't think there are 9 notes in the scale. But what you do is just keep counting up

1 = F
3 = A
5 = C
b7 = Eb
9 = G so #9 is G#

That is a lot of notes! When you play it, you may consider leaving out A as G# is very close and might sound clashing. You may want this sound or you may not but if you're struggling to figure out which to leave out, that's one idea and C is another one.

The notes of the F7#9 piano chord are: F A C Eb G#.

And just a note here that the same thing applies for the F7#11 chord. You keep counting up the scale until you hit the 11th note which would be Bb and raise that to B.

That means the notes of the F7#11 chord are: F A C Eb B.

If you would like to continue working out some 7th, 7#5 or 7#9 chords to really learn this, you can use the major scales page to do that. Here's what you can do:

pick a key / scale
work out the major chord
work out the 7th chord
work out the 7#5 and 7#9 chords

F7 Piano Chord Inversions

Playing inversions can be really useful for 7th chords. If you haven't played inversions before, I'd recommend starting with the F major chord inversions here.

The inversions for F7 are:

Root position: F A C Eb

1st Inversion: A C Eb F

2nd Inversion: C Eb F A

3rd Inversion: Eb F A C

If you need to look up more chords, visit the Piano Chord Charts page or download your own copy below.

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More pages that might help:

G7 Piano Chord: Notes & How To Play It
Lear how to play the G7 piano chord including notes, G7sus4 variation & how to understand this chord.
A7 Piano Chord: Notes & How to Play It
Learn the play the A7 piano chord and find out the notes of A7, A7sus4 chord and A7/C# piano chord plus some chord theory thrown in.
C7 Chord Piano Notes & How To Play It
Learn the C7 chord piano notes, C7sus4 chord, finger positions and how to play the C7 chord on piano.
The Eb7 Piano Chord: A Comprehensive Guide
Learn the Eb7 piano chord with notes, theory, chord progression, Eb7sus4 chord and more!
How To Play B7 Piano Chord
Learn the notes of the B7 piano chord plus check out fingering, chord charts, video of B7 and more.
D7 Piano Chord Notes, Variations & How To Play It
The D7 chord on piano with notes, finger positions for right hand and left and how to play it.
Ab7 Piano Chord Notes & How to Play It
Learn how to play the Ab7 piano chord including notes, inversions, chord chart, video and more.
C#7 Piano Chord: Notes & How To Play It
Learn the notes of the C#7 piano chord (C sharp seventh chord), C#7sus, how to play it and which fingers to use.
How to Play Bb7 Piano Chord: Notes, Charts & More!
Learn to play the Bb7 piano chord including notes, fingering, video, chord charts and more.
How to Play E7 Piano Chord
Learn the notes of the E7 piano chord, the E7sus4 chord, finger positions and a bit of chord theory for the E seventh chord.