The Note F

F as a musical pitch: its frequency, spellings, and the harmony built on top of it.

F is the subdominant of C major and the first key students encounter that has a flat (Bb). On guitar, F major is notorious as the first barre chord beginners must master. F major sounds calm, pastoral, and warm — Beethoven chose it for the "Pastoral" Symphony — while F minor is among the darkest, most mournful keys in the repertoire. Its reference octave pitch is 349.23 Hz (MIDI note 65). The major triad on F is F Major (F – A – C), and the minor triad is F Minor (F – Ab – C).