Falt

Falt is F, A, C#, Eb and Gb, a altered dominant. The shape this page opens on is written 12320x, lowest string first.

Note by note. F is the root, A is the major third, C# is the sharp fifth, Eb is the flat seventh and Gb is the flat ninth.

Also written F7alt, F7altered or F altered dominant. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.

There are 9 common shapes for Falt on the guitar, and 20 derived voicings in 2 families.

One note away. Change a single note of Falt and you have Faug7 (with one note taken away), Faug9 (with one note moved) or F7b9 (with one note moved).

The common shapes, written lowest string first: 12320x, xx3405, xx3465, x87x67, x-8-7-10-10-7, x-8-9-10-10-x, 13-12-x-14-12-13, x-x-15-14-12-13, 13-14-15-14-x-13.

Under the hand. 2 of the 9 shapes here sit in open position, and the first uses 1 open string with 1 left unplayed. None of them needs a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 15th.

Where it goes. Falt is a dominant with its tension raised, so it still points at Bb — harder than a plain seventh does, because the altered tones sit a semitone from where they are going.

Shell. Root, third and seventh: the guide tones fix the quality, so the fifth is dropped. That is what leaves a string free, so pick a tension to put on top. Falt has xx3242, x8787x, 13-12-13-11-x-x, 1x122x, x-8-x-8-10-9, 13-x-13-14-14-x, 1016xx.

Rootless. The root left to the bass player. Frees a finger for a tension. Falt has xx1222, x4424x, xx4645, x6767x, xx7879, x-x-11-11-10-11, x-x-13-14-14-14, x4x242.

Tensions. A shell of Falt, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the #11 (B).

What kind of chord this is. Falt is an altered chord — a dominant seventh with its fifth or ninth moved. altered dominant chords on every root, and what they are for.

The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.