F♯ major chord on piano

The notes and their roles

F♯ major contains F♯, A♯ and C♯. From the root, the semitone offsets are 0, 4, 7. The degree formula 1, 3, 5 describes each member relative to the root, not its order in a particular voicing.

Read this shape accurately

F-sharp, A-sharp and C-sharp are three black keys. Their common key color does not make the intervals equal: the lower third is major and the upper third is minor.

Change only the third

Hold F♯ and C♯ steady. Lower A♯ by one semitone to A and the quality changes to minor. The root and perfect fifth do not change. This isolates the interval that distinguishes the two triads.

Choose a bass note

The root-position octave example is F♯4 · A♯4 · C♯5. Inversions put a different member in the bass while retaining F♯ as the root. The table gives pitch-class order; move the leading notes up an octave as needed to keep each example ascending.

A short listening check

Play F♯ major together, then as separate notes. Name the major third before looking at the display. Repeat in first inversion and check that A♯ is the bass while F♯ remains the root.

1. Choose the displayed root and quality in the chord explorer.
2. Compare root position with one inversion at the same tempo.
3. Save both examples in a named practice collection, or export a reference with note names.