F♯ major 9th chord

Playing it

There’s no open-string way to play F♯maj9 on guitar with the root in the bass, so the standard shape is a barre across the 1st fret (213121).

On piano, F♯maj9 has four black keys (F♯, A♯, C♯ and G♯) and one white key. In root position it spans more than an octave, so many pianists play the root with the left hand and the rest with the right.

On ukulele the usual F♯maj9 shape is 1111, with the index finger barring all four strings at the 1st fret. It leaves out the root, which a bass player (or your ear) fills in.

Related chords

Move a single note and F♯maj9 becomes a different chord: drop the G♯ for F♯maj7, drop the E♯ for F♯add9 and lower E♯ to E for F♯9.

Where you’ll hear it

Notice the E♯ in F♯maj9 (F♯ A♯ C♯ E♯ G♯): each note of the chord takes its own letter (F–A–C–E–G), so the major 7th has to be written E♯ rather than F — the same key on a piano, spelled to fit the chord.