About C5 — triad voicings
C5 is C and G — C with the third taken out altogether.
It sounds blunt, and neither major nor minor. Distortion turns a real third to mud, which is why rock guitar plays this instead of a triad.
C5 notes and formula
| C | G |
|---|---|
| 1 | 5 |
Neutral — with no third it commits to no mode.
Also written C(no 3rd) or C power chord. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play C5
Three notes on one string set. No seventh, so nothing is claimed about the chord beyond its quality.
Thin on their own, excellent over a bass line or against someone else’s harmony.
C5 has 23 of them, on the top three strings, the low-middle three, the bottom three strings, the bottom four strings, strings 5-3-2-1, the high-middle three, strings 6-4-3-2, the top four strings and the middle four strings, from open position up to the 12th — every inversion the chord has: C in the bass and G in the bass. The one to learn first is the G shape at the nut, which is the easiest grip here.
4 of them sit on strings 5-3-2-1, so you can run the inversions up one set without changing strings — which is the whole reason to learn them as a family rather than as separate grips.
Start with x35xxx — only 2 fretted notes and low, at the 3rd fret. None of the shapes for C5 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 3rd fret. None of them needs a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 3rd fret to the 10th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x35xxx | 3rd fret | C, root position | G | all fretted |
| 8-10-10-x-x-x | 8th fret | C, root position | C | all fretted |
How to use C5
In which keys. Every note of C5 belongs to C major (the I), C minor (the i), D minor (the ♭VII), Eb major (the vi), E minor (the ♭VI), F major (the V), F minor (the v), G major (the IV), G minor (the iv), Ab major (the iii), A minor (the ♭III) and Bb major (the ii).
What to play over C5
Every note of C5 is in C major pentatonic, C minor pentatonic, C blues, C major and C lydian.
Chords near C5
Change one note of C5 and you have C (add the major third), Cm (add the minor third), Csus2 (add the ninth), Csus4 (add the fourth), C/E (add the major third) or C/G (add the major third).
C5 is a suspended chord — root and fifth, with a second or fourth where the third would be — or nothing at all. Suspended and power chords on every root.
On C5’s sound and use this page follows Robert Rawlins & Nor Eddine Bahha, Jazzology (Hal Leonard, 2005). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.