HOW TO PLAY

C# Minor

From your perspective:

STEP BY STEP

How to play a C# Minor chord on the guitar

1. Make a barre with your first finger on the fourth fret.
2. Put your second finger on the fifth fret of the second string.
3. Put your third finger on the sixth fret of the fourth string.
4. Put your fourth finger on the sixth fret of the third string.
5. Strum only the highest five strings.

THEORY

C# Minor is a minor triad, three notes stacked on top of one another. The root, a minor third, and a perfect fifth:

In addition to being the root of C# Minor, it is also the vi chord of E Major.

Here are those notes on a piano keyboard:

Here is how those notes are actually distributed across your fretboard in this version of C# Minor:

HOW IT’S USED

You’ll frequently encounter C#m as the vi chord of E Major. Here is that classic I-V-vi-IV:

In the key of C# Minor itself, with a little respelling, those chords become the III, VII, i, and VI. You might see them arranged like so:

Let’s get rid of those major chords, though. Moving from the diminished ii°, to the v, and back to the i:

You can also play the dimished chord as ‘half-diminished’ seventh—a little gentler:

You might also see a i-iv-VII:

SEE ALSO

Chords that frequently accompany C#m in the key of E Major:

More important chords in the key of C# Minor: