The C Major chord is one of the most common and popular chords on the guitar. The open C chord is one of the first chords that many guitarists learn. The key of C contains no sharps or flats (C, D, E, F, G, A, B), therefore, the key of C is often used as a kind of ‘default’ key when doing music theory examples.
Some Quick C Chord Theory
The C Major chord contains the notes C, E and G.
The C Major chord is produced by playing the 1st (root), 3rd and 5th notes of the C Major scale.
The C Major chord (just like all Major chords) contains the following intervals (from the root note): Major 3rd, minor 3rd, Perfect 4th (back to the root note).
C is the first chord in the key of C Major. The chords in the key of C Major are C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, B diminished.
10 Ways To Play The C Major Chord
If you’ve come to this page just to view some chord diagrams for C, here they are.
Standard C Chord Shape (Open C Chord)
The most common way to play the C chord is in the open position. This is one of the most commonly used chord shapes and one of the first ones that most guitarists learn.
The easiest version of the C chord is essentially a mini version of the standard, open C chord. It uses the first three strings of the guitar and only involves one finger (as well as open strings). These mini chords can be a great way to get started when learning the guitar, as they allow you to play chord songs without learning full (and sometimes difficult shapes).
How to Play the C Major Chord (Step by Step)
Place your third finger on the third fret of the fifth string.
Place your second finger on the second fret of the fourth string.
Place your first finger on the first fret of the second string.
Without striking the sixth string, strum from the fifth string down to the first string.
The instructions above are step by step instructions for playing the open C Major chord shape. These instructions can actually be super helpful when you feel like you’re interpreting the shape incorrectly. By going through the C chord instructions step by step, you can verify that you’re playing the chord correctly.
Barre Chord Shapes for C
The C chord can be played as a barre chord by playing a root 6 barre chord shape and starting on the 8th fret or by playing a root 5 barre chord Major shape and starting on the 3rd fret:
C Major Triads
Most of the time, when we play the C chord, we play the standard shapes, such as the open position C and the barre chord shapes. However, learning the strict root position and inverted triads is a great way of exploring subtle and interesting variations that exist across the fretboard. The C Major triad can be voiced in the following three ways:
C Major Triad (Root Position) – C, E, G
C Major Triad (1st Inversion) – E, G, C
C Major Triad (2nd Inversion) – G, C, E
Here are six different ways to play the C Major triad (including inversions).
Which Keys Have The C chord in Them?
The C chord can be found in the following keys:
The key of C Major (C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Bdim)
The key of G Major (G, Am, Bm, C, D, Em, Fdim)
The key of F Major (F, Gm, Am, Bb, C, Dm, Edim)
The key of A minor (Am, Bdim, C, Dm, Em, F, G)
The key of E minor (Em, Fdim, G, Am, Bm, C, D)
The key of D minor (Dm, Edim, F, Gm, Am, Bb, C)
Alternative But Useful C Chord Shapes
The following shapes are alternative ways of playing the C Major chord shape. They’re not the most common C shapes, but used enough to include here as interesting alternatives.
C Chord Substitutions
The C chord can often be substituted with the C sus 4 chord, the C sus 2 chord and the C add 9 chord. The C chord can also be used itself as a substitute for more complicated chords, such as the C Major 7 chord, the C7 chord, and other extension chords which have C as the root note (it can’t be used in place of minor chords though!).
Which Scales Can Be Played Over the C chord?
The most common and effective scales that can be used to solo/improvise over the C Major chord, or to create melodies for the purposes of song writing are:
C Major pentatonic scale – This scale will almost always work over the C Major chord, in any context.
C Major scale – This is the ‘default scale’ of the C chord.
C Lydian mode – This scale can be used over the C chord in certain contexts to add a jazz flavour.
C Major Blues – This scale is particularly useful in a Blues context.
The notes of a C major chord are the 1st (the root note), 3rd, and 5th notes, which are C (the root note), E and G. Notice that the octave (the 8th note) is also part of the chord. In fact, either of the notes C, E and G can be played in any octave on the guitar and it will still be called a C major chord.
The main reason is due to the stretch that all three fingers need to make. Most chord shapes you have tackled up to now will span two frets, whilst the C major chord spans 3. As well as that we need to worry about the open G and E string ringing out AND trying not to play the low E string.
C major (or the key of C) is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and its parallel minor is C minor.
C, third note of the musical alphabet, and one which has always occupied a peculiarly distinctive position in that it is the keynote of what was once called the natural scale. Thus on the pianoforte it consists entirely of white notes and hence has come to be regarded as the simplest and most fundamental of all keys.
The C Chord on guitar can be challenging for some hands because of the finger stretch involved. But it's a very commonly-used chord, so essential to learn.
The C Major chord is the same as and generally referred to as the C chord. They are not different, sometimes it is useful to emphasize it's the chord from the C scale ,generally when there are multiple scales involved in a pieces of music.
One notorious culprit is the barre chord, which involves using one finger to press down multiple strings across the guitar neck. Additionally, the F major chord, known for its challenging finger placement, often causes frustration.
However, the barred C chord is one of the hardest guitar chords for beginners. Although it involves the same notes but is rearranged (in a different order), this chord is more challenging to play. That is because we also need a bar in order to play it. Place your index finger across the strings on the third fret.
Acoustic guitars pose challenges with their thicker strings and wider neck, requiring finger strength and dexterity. Classical guitars demand precision in fingerpicking techniques and navigation of the wider neck and nylon strings. Electric guitars require technical skills and control over sound manipulation.
It's played like this: Index finger: 2nd fret of the D (4th) string. Middle finger: 3rd fret of the A (5th) string. Ring finger: 3rd fret of the B (2nd) string.
In open C tuning, your low E string will be taken down two whole steps to C, A will tune a whole step down to G, D will go one whole step down to C, G will stay the same, B is tuned up one half step to C, and the high E stays the same.
A chord is a combination of three or more notes. Chords are built off of a single note, called the root. In this lesson, we will discuss triads. They are created with a root, third, and fifth.
The famous four chords used in many pop song progressions are the I, V, vi and IV chords of a major key. The roman numerals represent the numbers of the major scale we begin a chord from (1, 5, 6, 4) so in C major this would be C, G, Amin, F or in G major it would be G, D, Emin, C.
It's a chord with two minor thirds above the root. Meaning three semitones separate the third and fifth notes of the chord. For example, a C major triad has the notes C (the root), E (the third), and G (the fifth). Therefore, a diminished C triad has the notes C, Eb, and Gb.
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