C♯m7

C♯1E♭3G♯5B♭7

Minor triad with a minor seventh. The same four notes as a major sixth chord a third above.

Written the other way round it is D♭m7 — the same twelve keys on a piano, a different piece of notation.

on guitar on piano the scale

Every fingering that fits a hand

Fig. 2

x102

open · no 5

Fig. 3

6877

hard

Fig. 4

6474

hard · no 5

Fig. 5

6477

hard · no 5

Fig. 6

647x

easy · no 5

What is true of it

C♯m7 is C♯, E, G♯ and B — 1, b3, 5 and b7 counted from C♯.

These are also the notes of E6/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 x102: 2 fingers, held at the 1st 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

C♯m7/E

9b9b

second inversion

C♯m7/G♯

1102

third inversion

C♯m7/B

4444

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

C♯7dominant seventh C♯maj7major seventh C♯m(maj7)minor major seventh C♯major C♯mminor C♯dimdiminished

Cm7 Dm7 D♯m7 E♭m7 Em7 Fm7 F♯m7 G♭m7 all 374