C#m7 piano chord, C# minor 7th notes and fingering.

The C#m7 piano chord is C# minor 7th: C#, E, G# and B. It is the C# minor triad (C#, E, G#) with a minor seventh (B) added on top, ten semitones above the root. Chord charts write it as C#m7 or C#min7.

How to play C#m7 on piano

1. Find C# on the keyboard. C# is the first black key of the pair, right after C. It is the same key as Db.
2. With your right hand, put finger 1 on C#, finger 2 on E, finger 3 on G# and finger 5 on B. Finger 1 is the thumb.
3. Press all four keys together. In root position they run from C#4 to B4, a reach of 10 semitones. Play chord sounds them together and Arpeggio sounds them one by one, from the bottom up.
4. Click Left hand to see the left hand. It plays C#3 to B3, one octave lower: C# with finger 5, E with finger 3, G# with finger 2, B with finger 1.
5. The cards under the keyboard hold the four positions, with C#, E, G# and B at the bottom in turn. Play and Arpeggio on a card play that position.
6. Open Note names. As written the keys read C#, E, G# and B. Sharps shows C#, E, G# and B, and Flats shows Db, E, Ab and B. This chord is written with sharps, so As written and Sharps match.

How C#m7 is built

Counted from the root, the formula is 0, 3, 7, 10. Stacked on each other the gaps are 3 + 4 + 3: a minor third, a major third and another minor third. Leave out the root and the top three notes, E, G# and B, make a major triad: E major. That is why C#m7 and Emaj7 look so alike on the keyboard.

Worked example: the pitch of C#4. On a piano tuned to A4 = 440 Hz, a note 8 semitones below A4 has the frequency 440 × 2^(-8/12), which is about 277.18 Hz. E4 is 5 semitones below A4, so 440 × 2^(-5/12) gives about 329.63 Hz.

C#m7 and Dbm7 are the same chord on the keyboard: the same four keys sound for both. Written as Dbm7 it reads Db, Fb, Ab and Cb. The key of C# minor has 4 sharps, while the key of Db minor would need double accidentals.

What the keys look like under your hand

The white keys beside C# are C on the left and D on the right, a semitone each way. Two of the four notes are black keys (C# and G#) and two are white keys (E and B). Your thumb lands on C#, a black key with C and D beside it. Keep the thumb relaxed and slightly curved, and let the wrist stay level instead of twisting to reach. Finger 3 presses G#, a black key between G and A. The middle fingers are the longest, so they reach black keys most easily.

C#m7 inversions and fingering

C#m7 has four positions. In root position C# is at the bottom. In the first inversion, E is at the bottom and the chord is written C#m7/E. In the second inversion, G# is at the bottom and the chord is written C#m7/G#. In the third inversion, B is at the bottom and the chord is written C#m7/B. The tightest reach, 8 semitones from the lowest key to the highest, is the second inversion. The widest, at 10, is the root position.

The keys that hold C#m7

C#m7 fits six of the major and natural minor keys that have a standard key signature, which means every note of it comes from that key's scale. The simplest is A major, with 3 sharps, where it is chord iii7.

Progressions that use C#m7, with the chord numbers and the chords in that key:

• A major: Imaj7-iii7-IVmaj7-V7, which is Amaj7, C#m7, Dmaj7, E7, a climb from the tonic to the dominant.
• F# minor: i7-iv7-v7-i7, which is F#m7, Bm7, C#m7, F#m7, the minor-key cadence.
• E major: Imaj7-V7-vi7-IVmaj7, which is Emaj7, B7, C#m7, Amaj7, the four-chord loop heard in a great deal of pop.

Here is a worked example in A major. The chord before C#m7 in the first progression above is Amaj7 (A, C#, E and G#). From Amaj7 in root position, the closest way to reach C#m7 is its third inversion (B, C#, E and G#, lowest note first): three notes stay where they are, and the others move 2 semitones in total, counting each note against the note in the same place from the bottom.

The same four keys can be named a second way. C#m7 holds the same notes as E6 (E, G#, B and C#). The name you read depends on which note is lowest: with C# at the bottom it is C#m7, with E at the bottom it is E6.

What C#m7 sounds like

Minor 7th chords are mellow. The added seventh softens the plain minor triad, so the chord feels smoother and less heavy. You hear them in jazz, soul, R and B and pop, and as the ii chord of a ii-V-I.

C#m7 is the iii7 chord in A major, the v7 chord in F# minor and the vi7 chord in E major.

A common mistake with C#m7

A common mistake is pressing E# instead of E, one semitone higher than the third of C#m7. That gives C#7 (C#, E#, G# and B), a dominant 7th. If the chord sounds brighter and more tense than you expected, the third is the note to check.

Chords to learn next

Chords close to C#m7: C# minor (the same chord without the seventh; shares C#, E and G#); C#7, listed as Db7 (a major third instead; shares C#, G# and B); Emaj7 (shares three notes with it); E major (the major triad on top of it; shares E, G# and B).

Once C#m7 feels easy, play it and then F#7 to hear a ii-V move. For chords beyond these six types, and for guitar and ukulele shapes, use the chord finder. To play along with your computer keys, open the virtual piano. The piano chords page lists all 72 chords.