Triads
C minor chord
Darker and more melancholy than major, but just as stable.
Cm is the ii chord in B♭ major, iii in A♭ major and vi in E♭ major. In minor keys: i in C minor and iv in G minor.
- Notes
- CE♭G
- Formula
- 1♭35
- Built from
- root · minor 3rd · perfect 5th
How to play Cm
About the C minor chord
C minor is a dark, serious key used for some of the most dramatic music in the classical repertoire, and a favorite for moody pop, film and hip-hop. It’s the relative minor of E♭ major.
Playing it
On guitar, Cm has an open-position shape, x31013, using four fingers alongside the open strings. Don’t strum the low E string.
On piano, Cm has one black key (E♭) and two white keys.
On ukulele the usual Cm shape is 0333, with a small 3-string barre at the 3rd fret.
Related chords
Cm shares two of its three notes with E♭ (E♭ and G), its relative major, and with A♭ (C and E♭). That overlap is why these chords sound so natural next to each other — and why they can often stand in for one another.
Move a single note and Cm becomes a different chord: raise E♭ to E for C, add B♭ for Cm7, swap E♭ for F for Csus4 and lower E♭ to D for Csus2.
Where you’ll hear it
You’ll find Cm in common progressions such as Cm–A♭–E♭–B♭ (the minor-feel pop progression in E♭ major), Cm–Fm–G–Cm (the minor cadence in C minor) and Cm–B♭–A♭–G (the Andalusian cadence in C minor).
