GuitarChords.net

C major guitar chord

C major is the notes C, E, and G played together. This is one of the first guitar chords most people learn. Look at the first picture. If you want the same steps in words, read the list under it.

In the picture, 1 is index, 2 is middle, 3 is ring, 4 is pinky. This page has a second picture of C major farther down.

x means muted. 0 means open.

C major

Short code x32010, thickest string first.

  1. Low E string: muted, do not play.
  2. A string: fret 3, ring finger, note C, 1st.
  3. D string: fret 2, middle finger, note E, 3rd.
  4. G string: open, note G, 5th.
  5. B string: fret 1, index finger, note C, 1st.
  6. High E string: open, note E, 3rd.

C major uses the notes C, E and G.

This is a beginner grip.

People write "C" for "C major".

The first shape does not use a barre.

Another shape on this page uses a barre.

The next beginner chord on this site is G major. Open the G major page.

More C guitar chords.

Also C minor, C dominant 7, C major 7, C minor 7, C suspended 2, C suspended 4, C power chord, C diminished, C augmented.

C major, another shape

Short code x35553, thickest string first.

Barre fret 3 with the index finger on the A and high E strings.

  1. Low E string: muted, do not play.
  2. A string: fret 3, index finger, note C, 1st.
  3. D string: fret 5, middle finger, note G, 5th.
  4. G string: fret 5, ring finger, note C, 1st.
  5. B string: fret 5, pinky finger, note E, 3rd.
  6. High E string: fret 3, index finger, note G, 5th.

C major uses the notes C, G and E.

Are these really both C major if they sound so different?

Yes. Both pictures are C, E, and G played together. That is C major. The first picture leaves the G string and the high E string with no finger, and it mutes the thick string. The second picture uses a barre at fret 3 and has no open strings. Same three notes. Different sound, because the notes sit on different strings.

If the C major you hear in a song sounds bigger or thicker than the first picture when you play it, try the second picture, the barre shape lower on this page. It is still C major. It uses no ringing open strings, so it often sounds heavier.

Your fingers can be right and a recording can still not match. This site shows the chord. It does not play the recording. The first picture mutes the thick string, so the lowest note is the C on the A string. If the recording has a low E under the chord, that is a different way of playing C, not a failed first picture. The song may also use a capo (a clamp that raises every string), or the chart you found may be wrong. Check those before you decide your fingers failed.

E is the note that makes this chord major instead of minor. On the first picture that E is on the D string, fret 2, middle finger. The open high E is the same note higher up. Play C minor after this C major. On C minor that note is E flat. Listen for E turning into E flat.

You can play C major well and G major well and still have trouble in a song that uses both. The hard part is moving from this first C shape to the first G shape without stopping. No finger stays on the same string and fret. You lift all three fingers from C and put them down for G. Practice that change slowly.

Chords that go with C major

The matching minor chord is A minor. Open the A minor page.

This site also has F major and G major.

Progressions that start on C major

Play each line in order.

C major, F major, G major, C major

This is the campfire loop. C major (C) to F major (F) to G major (G) and home. Your ear already knows the last chord is coming, and that little click of "yes" is why beginners and church basements and country radio never get tired of it. It feels like a door shutting gently, not slamming.

C major, G major, A minor, F major

This loop is why so many pop songs feel like they have a plot. Bright, brighter, then A minor (Am) makes it personal, then F major lets you keep going. Country-pop and adult contemporary use it too, not only Top 40. Good for a chorus people can feel on the first listen.

C major, A minor, F major, G major

C major to Am is the first drop in the stomach. F major and G major walk you back the way a slow dance does. 1950s doo-wop and old love songs wore this path smooth. People hum it in the car before they know the words.

C major, G major, F major, C major

No minor chord, so no lump in the throat — only forward. 1970s rock, church-camp songs, anything that wants grit and a grin instead of a sad verse. You stomp. You keep going.

C major, D minor, G major, C major

D minor (Dm) is a quieter color, not a tragedy. G major turns you around. C major is still home; you just took the long way. Jazz standards and softer pop from the 1930s on like that little wait before you land. It feels grown without getting hard.

Songs with C major

Listen for this chord, then use the grip on this page.

Let It Be

C major sits in this Beatles song. The recording is in C major. It also uses G major, A minor, and F major. The verse is C major, G major, A minor, F major.

C major is the first chord of the verse and the chord the chorus sits on.

The Beatles put Let It Be out in 1970, but Paul McCartney wrote it in 1968, when the band was falling apart and he was worn out. C major is the home chord. It is bright and steady. It is the chord that keeps coming back to say the night will end.

Paul has told the same story for decades.

One night he dreamed about his mother, Mary, who died when he was fourteen.

In the dream she told him it would be all right, and to let it be.

He woke up feeling better and went straight to the piano.

He wrote that in his 2021 book Lyrics, and he told it earlier to Barry Miles for the book Many Years From Now.

Paul woke up calm. He sat down and wrote a song whose home chord is C major. Each time the verse comes back to C major, you hear that same calm: a bright, steady chord that does not rush. That is the feeling of the dream.

Creep

C major sits in this Radiohead song. The recording is in G major. It also uses G major, B major, and C minor. The verse is G major, B major, C major, C minor.

C major is the third chord of the verse, after B major (B).

Creep is a G major song. In the verse you play B major, then C major. C major is warmer. It is the next color after that jump.

They did not plan to record this song. In 1992, at Chipping Norton Recording Studios in Oxfordshire, producers Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie were hired for other tracks. Kolderie asked them to play the song he thought was a Scott Walker cover. They played it once. The room clapped.

Radiohead had not known they were being recorded. Drummer Philip Selway later said that is why it sounds so unguarded. Kolderie called EMI and talked them into putting it out as the single.

C major is the chord that comes after B major in the verse. Then the loop goes to C minor (Cm).