G♯6

G♯1B♯3D♯5E♯6

A major triad with a sixth added. The same four notes as a minor seventh chord a third below.

Written the other way round it is A♭6 — the same twelve keys on a piano, a different piece of notation.

on guitar on piano the scale

Every fingering that fits a hand

Fig. 2

101x

open · no 5

Fig. 3

1013

open · no 5

Fig. 4

1313

moderate · barre

Fig. 5

x888

moderate · barre · no 5

What is true of it

G♯6 is G♯, B♯, D♯ and E♯ — 1, 3, 5 and 6 counted from G♯.

These are also the notes of Fm7/G♯. Which name is right depends on what is underneath and what came before — the notes alone do not decide.

On an instrument that cannot reach all 4, the 5 goes first, in that order.

The easiest of the 4 fingerings below is 101x: 2 fingers, held at the 1st fret.

2 of them use open strings, which is what makes a shape quiet to change to.

2 of the 4 need a barre.

It leaves out the 5. 4 strings cannot carry 4 notes, and the 5 is the one this chord can lose without changing what it is.

1 string stays silent.

Where its notes are on the neck

Fig. 6 — first 12 frets

The brass dots are G♯, the root. Everything else is a chord tone with its degree printed in it.

With a different note underneath

first inversion

G♯6/B♯

5546

second inversion

G♯6/D♯

8888

third inversion

G♯6/E♯

x543

An inversion is the same chord with a different note lowest. The name changes to a slash name because the bass is what a listener hears as the foundation.

G♯ in other shapes

G♯m6minor sixth G♯major G♯mminor G♯dimdiminished

C6 C♯6 D♭6 D6 D♯6 E♭6 E6 F6 all 374