Guitar · seventh sharp five
F♯7♯5 Chord on Guitar
F# Dominant 7♯5 is F#, A#, D, E — the 1-3-#5-b7 pattern of a seventh sharp five chord. There are 2 ways to play it on guitar, ranked below from easiest to hardest.
There is no open F#7#5 shape on guitar — every version asks for a barre, which is exactly why this chord stops so many players. The one marked “Movable Root-6 Shape (2nd fret)” below is the friendliest grip, so start there.
Start here — Movable Root-6 Shape (2nd fret)
Barre at fret 2 — harder to hold than an open shape, but movable: slide it and you have every other seventh sharp five chord.
Every way to play it — 2 shapes, easiest first
Same chord in all of them. What changes is how much your hand has to do and where on the neck it sits.
Movable Root-6 Shape (2nd fret) Way 1 of 2
Movable Root-6 Shape (2nd fret)
Easiest here· advanced· the standard shape
Barre at fret 2 — harder to hold than an open shape, but movable: slide it and you have every other seventh sharp five chord.
Movable Root-5 Shape (9th fret) Way 2 of 2
Movable Root-5 Shape (9th fret)
advanced
Barre at fret 9 — the same movable idea, further up the neck: brighter, more compact, and easier to reach if you are already playing up there.
What beginners get wrong
Moving in and out of it
The shape above: Movable Root-6 Shape (2nd fret) — barred at fret 2.
Listening: each shape above has its own play button, and each one plays the notes that shape actually produces — not a generic triad.
F#7#5 on other instruments
Same notes, different hands. Every link below is a real page with diagrams and audio.
Chords next door
Same root, different colour — and all of them playable on guitar.
F#7#5 on Guitar — questions people ask
What is the easiest way to play F#7#5 on guitar?
“Movable Root-6 Shape (2nd fret)” — which we rate advanced — is the easiest F#7#5 shape on guitar. Barre at fret 2 — harder to hold than an open shape, but movable: slide it and you have every other seventh sharp five chord. There is no open F#7#5 on guitar, so a barre is unavoidable; this is the least demanding one.
What notes are in the F# Dominant 7♯5 chord?
F# Dominant 7♯5 is F#, A#, D, E — the 1-3-#5-b7 interval pattern of a seventh sharp five chord. Every voicing on this page uses those notes and nothing else; they just appear in a different order and octave.
How many ways can you play F#7#5 on guitar?
This page has 2 F#7#5 voicings for guitar, ranked from easiest to hardest: Movable Root-6 Shape (2nd fret), Movable Root-5 Shape (9th fret). They all sound like F#7#5; the differences are how hard they are to hold and how high they sit.
What can I play instead of F#7#5?
The nearest stand-ins on guitar that keep the same root are F#sus4, F#sus2, F#. They keep the root and the fifth and only change what sits in the middle, so most songs still work — but check the swap against the melody, because the note you removed may be the one the tune is singing.
Can I play F#7#5 on other instruments?
Yes. F#7#5 is the same set of notes everywhere; only the fingering changes. This site has diagrams and audio for it on piano.
Learn the theory behind F#7#5
The shape gets your fingers there. These explain why it sounds the way it does.
Barre Chords — The Wall Every Guitarist Climbs
This one asks for a barre. The article is the fix for the buzzing and the aching hand.
7 min read
Borrowed Chords and Modal Mixture — Stealing from Parallel Keys
The raised fifth comes from outside the key. This is where chords like it are borrowed from.
7 min read
Functional Harmony: Three Roles, One Engine
That sharpened fifth is a pull toward the next chord — here is the mechanism.
6 min read