F♯ minor chord on piano

Find the F♯ minor notes, inspect their piano positions, and compare inversions with an audible reference.

Interactive piano keyboardSelected notes: F♯4 · A4 · C♯5. Gold marks the root when one is known.C4D4E4F4G4A4B4C5D5C♯4D♯4F♯4G♯4A♯4C♯5
Root noteSelected tone

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C Minor

C4 · E♭4 · G4

Notes and intervals

DegreeNotesSemitones
1F♯40
♭3A43
5C♯57

The notes and their roles

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

NoteRoleSemitones above root
F♯Root0
AMinor third3
C♯Perfect fifth7

Read this shape accurately

The A in F-sharp minor is natural. It contrasts with A-sharp in F-sharp major; C-sharp remains the perfect fifth in either quality.

Change only the third

Hold F♯ and C♯ steady. Raise A by one semitone to A♯ and the quality changes to major. 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 · A4 · 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.

PositionNotes from the bassBass
Root positionF♯ · A · C♯F♯
First inversionA · C♯ · F♯A
Second inversionC♯ · F♯ · AC♯

A short listening check

Play F♯ minor together, then as separate notes. Name the minor 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.

Sources and methods