C6

C1E3G5A6

A major triad with a sixth added. The same four notes as a minor seventh chord a third below.

on guitar on piano the scale

Every fingering that fits a hand

Fig. 2

x000

open · no 5

Fig. 3

5400

easy · no 5

Fig. 4

5430

easy

Fig. 5

5450

easy · no 5

Fig. 6

545x

easy · no 5

What is true of it

C6 is C, E, G and A — 1, 3, 5 and 6 counted from C.

These are also the notes of Am7/C. Which name is right depends on what is underneath and what came before — the notes alone do not decide.

On an instrument that cannot reach all 4, the 5 goes first, in that order.

The easiest of the 5 fingerings below is x000: 0 fingers and nothing above the third fret.

1 of them use open strings, which is what makes a shape quiet to change to.

It leaves out the 5. 4 strings cannot carry 4 notes, and the 5 is the one this chord can lose without changing what it is.

1 string stays silent.

Where its notes are on the neck

Fig. 7 — first 12 frets

The brass dots are C, the root. Everything else is a chord tone with its degree printed in it.

With a different note underneath

first inversion

C6/E

x453

second inversion

C6/G

0000

third inversion

C6/A

2000

An inversion is the same chord with a different note lowest. The name changes to a slash name because the bass is what a listener hears as the foundation.

C in other shapes

Cm6minor sixth Cmajor Cmminor Cdimdiminished

C♯6 D♭6 D6 D♯6 E♭6 E6 F6 F♯6 all 374