The C sharp minor chord is enharmonically the same chord as D flat minor. The note Db is used much more commonly than C#. The chord C#m, however, is used often, mainly because the C#m chord is found in common keys, such as E, A and B.
The C#m chord contains the note E, so it can technically be played as an open chord (see the first shape in the image below). However, this is not a very common way of playing the chord. Instead, C#m is most commonly played on the 4th fret, as a root-5 bar chord.
Some Quick C#m Chord Theory
- The C sharp minor chord contains the notes C#, E and G#.
- The C# minor chord is produced by playing the 1st (root), flat 3rd and 5th notes of the C# Major scale.
- The C# minor chord (just like all minor chords) contains the following intervals (from the root note): minor 3rd, Major 3rd, Perfect 4th (back to the root note).
- C sharp minor is the relative minor of E Major.
- C#m is the first chord in the key of C# minor. The seven chords in the key of C# minor are: C#m, D# diminished, E+, F#m, G#, A, B# diminished
10 Ways To Play The C# Minor Chord
If you’ve come to this page just to view some chord diagrams for C#m, here they are.
Further Reading
- C# natural minor scale
- C# harmonic minor scale
- How minor chords work
- Chords page
- C# minor arpeggio