Cmaj7#5 guitar chord
The standard grips this chord is usually shown with.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Cmaj7#5 — 2nd inversion
Cmaj7#5 is C, E, G# and B — Cmaj7 with the fifth raised a semitone.
It sounds weightless, with no pull in it. Unlike an aug7 there is no flat seventh dragging it anywhere, so it colours a tonic rather than replacing it with a dominant.
Tonic — the lydian augmented sound.
Cmaj7#5 notes and formula
| C | E | G# | B |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | ♯5 | 7 |
Also written CM7#5, CΔ7#5, C+M7 or Cmaj7(#5). The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Cmaj7#5
Cmaj7#5 in 2nd inversion puts G# in the bass instead of C, the 5th of the chord. The notes are the same; what changes is what the bass line does, which is most of why you would reach for it — it lets the lowest voice move by step where the root would have jumped.
One of Cmaj7#5’s 10 common shapes does this:xx6557
Play Cmaj7#5 as a shell — root, third and seventh — and the spare string takes the 9 (D), the #11 (F#) or the 13 (A).
All 10 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- x32100, open position, C, root position, top note E, 2 open strings
- x324x4, 2nd fret, C, root position, top note G#, all fretted
- x36450, open position, C, root position, top note E, 1 open string
- 876500, 5th fret, C, root position, top note E, 2 open strings
- xx6557, 5th fret, G#, 2nd inversion, top note B, all fretted
- x-x-10-9-9-7, 7th fret, C, root position, top note B, all fretted
- 8-11-10-9-0-0, 8th fret, C, root position, top note E, 2 open strings
- 8x9998, 8th fret, C, root position, top note C, barred
- x-x-10-13-12-12, 10th fret, C, root position, top note E, all fretted
- x-15-14-13-12-12, 12th fret, C, root position, top note E, all fretted
How to use Cmaj7#5
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Cmaj7#5 is Dm7 to G7 — the ii and the V of C — and G7 shares its third and seventh with Dm7, so the hand barely moves between them.
Chords near Cmaj7#5
Change one note of Cmaj7#5 and you have Cmaj7 (the sharp fifth becomes the fifth), Cmaj7b5 (the sharp fifth becomes the flat fifth), Caug (drop the major seventh) or Caug7 (the major seventh becomes the flat seventh).
Cmaj7#5 is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major chords on every root.
The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in how this site is built.