F5 — F power chord chord
Root and fifth only. The third is left out, so the chord is neither major nor minor and the same shape works over either.
- 1 = F
- 5 = C
- Symbol
- F5
- Root
- F
- Quality
- Power chord
- Family
- triad
- Notes
- F C
- Degree formula
1 5- Semitones from the root
0 7- Distinct pitch classes
- 2
- Interval structure
- Stacked from the root: 7 semitones
- Notation
- Written 5. Two notes, usually doubled at the octave on the lowest strings, and the standard shape of distorted rock rhythm playing.
- Key
- F · F major / D minor key signature
Formula
The chord tones in order from the root, with the interval each one forms above it.
| Degree | Note | Semitones | Interval from the root |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | F | 0 | Perfect unison |
| 5 | C | 7 | Perfect fifth |
Inversions
An inversion is the same set of notes with a different one in the bass. The last column gives the distance of each note above the bass note, in semitones.
| Inversion | Bass note | Degree in the bass | Notes above the bass | Semitones above the bass |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| root position | F | 1 | F – C | 0 7 |
| first inversion | C | 5 | C – F | 0 5 |
Playable voicings
These shapes were found by searching the fretboard of a standard-tuned guitar (E A D G B E) rather than copied from a chord book. The search allows every string to sound or to be muted, rejects any shape with a muted string between two sounding strings, rejects any shape whose fretted notes span more than four frets (a five-fret window), requires every chord tone to be present, and then sorts what remains with root-position shapes first and the most compact, lowest shapes next. The shapes shown are the first six of that ordering; other orderings are possible at the same frets.
| # | Shape (low string first) | Notes | Degrees | Bass | Span (frets) | Sounding strings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1-3-3-5-1-1 | F C F C C F | 1 5 1 5 5 1 | F | 4 | 6 |
| 2 | 1-3-3-5-1-x | F C F C C x | 1 5 1 5 5 x | F | 4 | 5 |
| 3 | x-8-10-10-6-8 | x F C F F C | x 1 5 1 1 5 | F | 4 | 5 |
| 4 | x-x-3-5-1-1 | x x F C C F | x x 1 5 5 1 | F | 4 | 4 |
| 5 | 1-3-3-5-x-x | F C F C x x | 1 5 1 5 x x | F | 4 | 4 |
| 6 | x-8-10-10-6-x | x F C F F x | x 1 5 1 1 x | F | 4 | 4 |
Shape numbers run from the lowest string to the highest, so the left-hand number is the sixth string (low E) in standard tuning. Multiple shapes are listed because a chord can be voiced several ways, and because a lower position is not always the better sounding one.
Related chords and scales
- KeyEverything in F
- ScaleF major pentatonic
- ChordF
- ChordF7
Related
- KeyKey of F
- ScaleF major pentatonic
- ChordF — Major
- ChordF7 — Dominant seventh
- ChordFaug — Augmented
- ChordFdim — Diminished
- ChordFm — Minor
- DegreesF — degree map