Sevenths
C♯ major 7th chord
Lush and mellow — a signature sound of jazz, soul and bossa nova.
C♯maj7 is the Imaj7 chord in D♭ major and IVmaj7 in A♭ major. In minor keys: IIImaj7 in B♭ minor and VImaj7 in F minor.
- Notes
- C♯E♯G♯B♯
- Formula
- 1357
- Built from
- root · major 3rd · perfect 5th · major 7th
How to play C♯maj7
About the C♯ major 7th chord
Playing it
There’s no open-string way to play C♯maj7 on guitar with the root in the bass, so the standard shape is a barre across the 4th fret (x46564).
On piano, C♯maj7 has two black keys (C♯ and G♯) and two white keys.
On ukulele the usual C♯maj7 shape is 1014, using three fingers.
Related chords
Take away the root and the other three notes form E♯m (E♯ G♯ B♯) — so you can think of C♯maj7 as E♯m with C♯ added underneath.
Move a single note and C♯maj7 becomes a different chord: drop the B♯ for C♯, lower B♯ to B for C♯7, swap B♯ for A♯ for C♯6 and swap B♯ for D♯ for C♯add9.
Where you’ll hear it
You’ll find C♯maj7 in common progressions such as D♯m7–G♯7–C♯maj7 (the jazz cadence in C♯ major).
Notice the E♯ in C♯maj7 (C♯ E♯ G♯ B♯): each note of the chord takes its own letter (C–E–G–B), so the major 3rd has to be written E♯ rather than F — the same key on a piano, spelled to fit the chord.
