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 C#maj, C#M 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 46 of them, on the high-middle three, the top three strings, the top four strings, the bottom three strings, the middle four strings, the low-middle three, the bottom four strings, strings 5-3-2-1 and strings 6-4-3-2, from open position up to the 13th — 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 top 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 x43121 — no barre and down at the nut. None of the shapes for C# uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 1st fret. 4 of the 6 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x43121 | 1st fret | C#, root position | E# | all fretted |
| x46664 | 4th fret | C#, root position | G# | barred |
| 986669 | 6th fret | C#, root position | C# | barred |
| xx6669 | 6th fret | G#, 2nd inversion | C# | barred |
| 9-11-11-10-9-9 | 9th fret | C#, root position | C# | barred |
| x-x-11-13-14-13 | 11th fret | C#, root position | E# | all fretted |
How to use C#
How you get to it. The turn that lands on C# is D#m7 to G#7 — the ii and the V of C# — and G#7 shares its third and seventh with D#m7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of C# belongs to C# major (the I), Eb minor (the ♭VII), F minor (the ♭VI), F# major (the V), Ab major (the IV) and Bb 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 C#m (the major third becomes a minor third), C#sus2 (the major third becomes a ninth), C#sus4 (the major third becomes a fourth), C#maj7 (add the major seventh), C#add9 (add the ninth) or C#5 (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.