C Major guitar chord
Three notes across one string set.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About C — triad voicings
C is C, E and G.
It sounds plain and completely at rest. The reference every other chord on this page is a modification of.
C notes and formula
| C | E | G |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 |
Tonic — the chord a progression stops on.
Also written Cmaj, CM or C major. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play C
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.
C has 48 of them, on the high-middle three, the top three strings, the middle four strings, the top four strings, the low-middle three, the bottom three strings, the bottom four strings, strings 5-3-2-1 and strings 6-4-3-2, from open position up to the 14th — every inversion the chord has: C in the bass, E in the bass and G in the bass. The one to learn first is the E shape at the nut, which is the easiest grip here.
6 of them sit on the middle four strings, 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 x32010 — no barre and 2 open strings. 1 of the 7 shapes here sits in open position. 4 of the 7 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 15th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x32010 | open position | C, root position | E | 2 open strings |
| x35553 | 3rd fret | C, root position | G | barred |
| 875558 | 5th fret | C, root position | C | barred |
| xx5558 | 5th fret | G, 2nd inversion | C | barred |
| 8-10-10-9-8-8 | 8th fret | C, root position | C | barred |
| x-x-10-12-13-12 | 10th fret | C, root position | E | all fretted |
| x-15-14-12-13-12 | 12th fret | C, root position | E | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 3 open string voicings, each on its own page.
How to use C
How you get to it. The turn that lands on C 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.
In which keys. Every note of C belongs to C major (the I), D minor (the ♭VII), E minor (the ♭VI), F major (the V), G major (the IV) and A minor (the ♭III).
What to play over C
Every note of C is in C major pentatonic, C major, C lydian, C mixolydian and C lydian dominant.
Chords near C
Change one note of C and you have Cm (the major third becomes a minor third), Csus2 (the major third becomes a ninth), Csus4 (the major third becomes a fourth), Cmaj7 (add the major seventh), Cadd9 (add the ninth) or C5 (drop the major third).
C is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major chords on every root.
On C’s sound and use this page follows Edward Aldwell & Carl Schachter, Harmony and Voice Leading (Schirmer / Cengage, 4th ed., 2011). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.