C#maj7 Chord on Guitar, Piano and Ukelele | How to Play the C sharp

The C# major 7th chord (C#maj7) is built from a root note (C#), a major third (E#), a perfect fifth (G#) and a major seventh (B#):

C#maj7 chord [Musical explanation]

The C# major seventh chord is a tetrad with formula 1 – 3 – 5 – 7. Therefore, to build it we need C# (1), E# (3), G# (5) and B# (7):

This is due to the fact that a major seventh chord is made up of 3 third intervals:

If we apply this principle to the C#maj7 chord we obtain that:

Thus, this confirms that C# major seventh chord is defined by:

Root (C#) – Major Third (E#) – Perfect Fifth (G#) – Major Seventh (B#)

To sum up, in order to build the C#maj7 chord we need to add the major seventh (7th) to the C# major chord.

C#maj7 Guitar Chord

The C#maj7 chord guitar has the following shape on the fretboard:

Let’s analyze in detail this chord diagram above to make sure that we understand how to play the C#maj7 on guitar.

Let’s start by analyzing the 3 circles in blue, which indicate that on the strings 4 (D), 3 (G) and 2 (B) we have to place the fingers 3 (ring finger), 2 (middle) and 4 (pinky). In this case we have a barre chord, so we have to use as well the index finger (1) to press down the strings from 5 to 1.

Note by the way the number 4 in black on the left that indicates on which fret we start playing the chord.

On the other hand, at the top we see that we have the characters:

X  C#  G#  B#  E# G#

This simply means that in the:

And at the bottom we find the numbers:

1  5  7  3 5

This indicates that in the:

⚠️ Important: it is not mandatory to memorize all this information to play the C#maj7 chord on guitar. But it is highly recommended to know it in order to understand the musical theory behind each chord.

Other ways to play the C# major 7 guitar chord

In addition to the diagram shown at the beginning of the article, we can also find the C#maj7 chord in the following fretboard positions:

C#maj7 chord inversions

The 3 inversions of the C# major 7th chord are:

C#maj7 Ukulele Chord

Here you can see as well the C#maj7 uke chord diagram:

C#maj7 Piano Chord

To play the C#maj7 chord on piano we only need to find the same music notes on its keys:

Third Inversión (C#maj7/B#)

Music scales in which the C# major 7th chord can be found

• C# major scale (harmonized with 7th chords)
  • C#maj7 D#m7 E#m7 F#maj7 G#7 A#m7 B#m7♭5
• G# major scale (harmonized with 7th chords)
  • G#maj7 A#m7 B#m7 C#maj7 D#7 E#m7 Gm7♭5
• A# natural minor scale (harmonized with 7th chords)
  • A#m7 B#m7♭5 C#maj7 D#m7 E#m7 F#maj7 G#7
• E# natural minor scale (harmonized with 7th chords)
  • E#m7 Gm7♭5 G#maj7 A#m7 B#m7 C#maj7 D#7
• E# harmonic minor scale (harmonized with 7th chords)
  • E#m(maj7) Gm7♭5 G#maj7#5 A#m7 B#7 C#maj7 Edim7

C#maj7 Chord PDF

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