How to Play the Fm Chord in all CAGED shapes
If you’ve watched all the previous videos on how to build CAGED guitar chords, you’ll know that the Fm chord can be played using all five CAGED shapes.
The first shape is the Em shape — simply take an open Em chord and move it up one fret. This gives you an Fm chord, Em shape.
This full barre chord can be difficult to fret, but that’s OK. We often solve this by only playing a fraction of the shape — for example, using just strings 1–4 or 2–4.
Another option is the Dm shape. Start this one on fret 3, and you’ll have another Fm chord. You can either play the full shape, or just focus on strings 1–3.
More Fm chords in CAGED shapes
Move that Fm chord up to start on fret 8 and play it on strings 3–5 — now you’ve got a Cm shape.
Or better yet, skip the full grip and just play strings 2–4. This is my favourite chord shape — the Cm shape, here used as an Fm chord. Can you see it?
Next, we have the Am shape, which is really easy to play.
You can use strings 1–5, 2–5, 1–3, or even 2–4. All these fractions of the Fm chord still form complete chords, as they each contain the root, minor 3rd, and 5th.
Finally, we have the Gm shape, starting at fret 13 — this one’s a bit tricky to play, but it’s still a valid option if you need a high voicing.
It’s a bit awkward to play, but that’s the shape you need to visualise if you want to build an Fm7 chord, an Fm7 arpeggio, the F minor pentatonic, or any mode — just add the appropriate intervals.
Fm Chord Summary
That’s a wrap on the Fm chords! We covered the Em shape, Dm shape, Cm shape, Am shape, and Gm shape.
Now, whenever you come across an Fm chord, you’ll know there are five starting points to play it from.
To get comfortable moving between these shapes, whether you’re picking, strumming, or fingerpicking, real songs are the key.
When you sign up for my guitar courses, I’ll guide you through playing the Fm chord — as well as all other chords — across the neck, all while learning famous songs.
The Fm Chord | Related Pages
Guitar chords
You can learn how to build all minor and major guitar chords using the so-called CAGED system.
This is the foundation upon which we learn to extend chords and build arpeggios and modes as well.
The F chord
Undoubtedly, the F chord is a major hurdle for beginner guitar players — known for being both challenging and painful to play.
How long does it take to build the strength to play this formidable chord? Perhaps the answer is simply to avoid it… or work through it!
Intermediate Acoustic
Many intermediate acoustic songs can’t be played using just basic open-position chords. To progress, you need to move up the fretboard and use CAGED barre chords.
We also integrate bass lines, add licks, extend chords, and incorporate vocal melodies. Most importantly, we’ll create second guitar parts and play these songs together.