Triads
C♯ minor chord
Darker and more melancholy than major, but just as stable.
C♯m 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
- C♯EG♯
- Formula
- 1♭35
- Built from
- root · minor 3rd · perfect 5th
How to play C♯m
About the C♯ minor chord
C♯ minor is the relative minor of E major, so it turns up constantly in guitar songs in E. It has four sharps and a tender, melancholy color.
Playing it
On guitar, C♯m has an open-position shape, x42120, using four fingers alongside the open strings. Don’t strum the low E string.
On piano, C♯m has two black keys (C♯ and G♯) and one white key.
On ukulele the usual C♯m shape is 1104, using three fingers.
Related chords
C♯m 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 C♯m becomes a different chord: raise E to E♯ for C♯, add B for C♯m7, swap E for F♯ for C♯sus4 and lower E to D♯ for C♯sus2.
Where you’ll hear it
You’ll find C♯m in common progressions such as C♯m–A–E–B (the minor-feel pop progression in E major), C♯m–F♯m–G♯–C♯m (the minor cadence in C♯ minor) and C♯m–B–A–G♯ (the Andalusian cadence in C♯ minor).
