Minor 7th chord · C root
Cm7 chord
- C1
- Eb♭3
- G5
- Bb♭7
The C minor 7th chord is built from the notes C, Eb, G, Bb. It turns up 4 times in the 80 songs on this site, including Autumn Leaves.
By Chiye · Updated
What is the Cm7 chord?
The Cm7 chord (C minor 7th) is a minor 7th chord built from four notes: C, Eb, G, Bb — the 1–♭3–5–♭7 of the C scale, 3 semitones and 7 semitones and 10 semitones above the root. On guitar it is most often played as a movable shape from fret 3 (x-3-5-3-4-3), so the same fingering works at any fret. It is rated intermediate. The smooth workhorse of funk, R&B and lo-fi. It is one of the most-used chords in this site's library: across the 80 song sheets charted here, Cm7 appears 4 times in 1 song, most often in the key of Gm, and the chord it most often moves to is F7. Below you will find step-by-step fingering, 3 positions up the neck, audio of every shape, and the real progressions this chord lives inside.
How do you play the Cm7 chord on guitar?
Fret 3 barre — a movable shape, so this same fingering works for every root note.
- Lay your index finger flat across the A to high E strings at fret 3, rolled slightly onto its bony edge.
- Press the D string at fret 5 with your ring finger.
- Press the B string at fret 4 with your middle finger.
- Start your strum on the A string and do not play the low E string at all.
Drop the lowest fretted note (A string) and play the rest as a four- or five-string shape. You lose the bass note but keep every note that gives the chord its name, and there is no barre left to fight. x-x-5-3-4-3
How do you make Cm7 sound clean?
Cm7 shapes get played with the ring finger muting the G string.
Cm → Cm7 → Fm: the i–v–iv move of C minor, one finger changing.
In real songs
What songs use the Cm7 chord?
- chord changes
- 4
- songs
- 1
- common keys
- Gm
Across the 80 chord sheets on this site, Cm7 appears 4 times in 1 song — most often in the key of Gm.
Cm7F7A#maj7D#maj7
Cm7F7A#maj7D#maj7
Cm7F7A#maj7A#maj7
Chord flow
What chord comes after Cm7?
The counts come from our own song library — 1560 chord changes in total — which makes them a snapshot of real songs instead of a rule of thumb.
After Cm7, songs go to
- F74×
Three-chord moves
Three-chord moves are where a chord really shows its character. These are the ones that actually happen in this library, counted from the sheets:
What other ways can you play Cm7 up the neck?
2 more positions below. These are the same notes in a different part of the neck. Choosing the position closest to the chord you just played is what stops your hand jumping between changes.
Position 2 · Fret 8 barre
Every note here is fretted, which means the shape transposes anywhere on the neck without changing your fingers.
The barre is the only hard part of this shape. Keep the bar finger straight and use the weight of your arm rather than the grip of your thumb.
Position 3 · Fret 10 barre
No open strings, so this is a movable shape: slide it up or down and the same fingering gives you a different chord name.
One bar does most of the work. Roll that finger onto its bony edge and pull the elbow slightly in — a barre that buzzes is almost always a position problem, not a strength problem.
The theory behind Cm7
Cm7 is spelled C – Eb – G – Bb — the 1 – ♭3 – 5 – ♭7 of the C scale, which is the root plus 3 semitones, 7 semitones, 10 semitones. The smooth workhorse of funk, R&B and lo-fi.
The flat seventh softens the minor third, which is why m7 chords sit comfortably under a vocal. In practice you will use Cm7 far more often than the plain minor triad in anything funky or jazzy.
Cm7 on other instruments
C – Eb – G – Bb — the highlighted black keys are the sharps or flats; play each note once, then move them into one hand position.
Take it to the practice room
