CHORD REFERENCE

Fm6

F – A♭ – C – D1 b3 5 6

The F Minor 6th chord and everything around it — the notes and how they are built, the shape on piano and guitar, the sound, and the keys it belongs to.

Notes
F1A♭b3C5D6

Fm6 is F, Ab, C, D — the 1, b3, 5 and 6 above the root F.

Piano
FCDA♭
Guitar

Ways to play it

A-shape barre — 8th fret
8fr×

Guitar — every position (frets 0–12)

357912eFA♭CDBCDFA♭GA♭CDFDDFA♭CDACDFA♭EFA♭CD

Root notes are red. The shapes above are movable — an E-shape has its root on the low E string, an A-shape on the A string. any group of these notes on the neck sounds the chord.

Ukulele (standard G–C–E–A)

Movable shape
GCEA7fr
357912ACDFA♭EFA♭CDCCDFA♭CGA♭CDF

The shape above is movable up the neck. Every position of the chord tones on the ukulele neck — any group that sounds only F, Ab, C, D plays the chord.

In which keys

Fm6 is a colour chord — it is not diatonic to a plain major or minor key, which is what gives it its character. It shows up as a borrowed chord, an altered dominant, or a passing sound.

Other F chords

Triads

FMajorFmMinorF5Power Chord (5)FdimDiminishedFaugAugmentedFsus2Suspended 2ndFsus4Suspended 4th

Sixths & sevenths

F6Major 6thF7Dominant 7thFmaj7Major 7thFm7Minor 7thFm(maj7)Minor–Major 7thFdim7Diminished 7thFm7♭5Half-Diminished (m7♭5)F7sus47sus4

Altered dominants

F7♭57♭5F7♯57♯5 (Augmented 7th)F7♭97♭9F7♯97♯9 (Hendrix Chord)

Extended & added

Fadd9Added 9thF6/96/9F9Dominant 9thFmaj9Major 9thFm9Minor 9thF11Dominant 11thF13Dominant 13th
Minor 6th on another root
CC♯D♭DE♭D♯EFF♯GA♭G♯AB♭B
Keep exploring

Work out the chords of a whole key with the Scale & Chord Finder, name a chord from its notes with the Chord Identifier, or browse every chord tool. The theory behind how chords are built is in the free Cloud Atelier music guides.