C♭ Minor Chord (C♭m) on Guitar, Piano and Ukulele – How to Play it

The C♭ minor chord (C♭m) is built from a root note (C♭), a minor third (E♭♭), and perfect fifth (G♭):

C♭m chord [Musical explanation]

The C♭ minor chord is a minor triad with formula 1 – ♭3 – 5. Therefore, to build it we need C♭ (1), E♭♭ (♭3) and G♭ (5):

This is due to the fact that a minor chord is made up of 2 third intervals:

If we apply this principle to the C♭m chord we obtain that:

Thus, this confirms that C♭ minor chord is defined by:

Root (C♭) – Minor Third (E♭♭) – Perfect Fifth (G♭)

In other words the Cb minor chord is the same as the Cm chord but lowered by a half step.

C♭m Guitar Chord

The C♭m 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♭m 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), 4 (pinky) and 2 (middle). In this case we need to play 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 3 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♭  C♭  E♭♭ G♭

This simply means that in the:

And at the bottom we find the numbers:

1  5  1  ♭3  5

This indicates that in the:

⚠️ Important: it is not mandatory to memorize all this information to play the C♭m 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♭m guitar chord

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

C♭ minor triad chords and inversions

Triads

First Inversion (C♭m/E♭♭)

Second Inversion (C♭m/G♭)

C♭m Ukulele Chord

Here you can see as well the C♭m uke chord diagram:

C♭m Piano Chord

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

Music scales in which the C♭ minor chord can be found

• A major scale (harmonized with triads)
  • A C♭m D♭m D F♭ G♭m A♭dim
• G major scale (harmonized with triads)
  • G Am Bm C D F♭m G♭dim
• D major scale (harmonized with triads)
  • D F♭m G♭m G A C♭m D♭dim
• C♭ natural minor scale (harmonized with triads)
  • C♭m D♭dim E♭♭ F♭m G♭m A♭♭ B♭♭
• F♭ natural minor scale (harmonized with triads
  • F♭m G♭dim A♭♭ B♭♭m C♭m D♭♭ E♭♭
• G♭ natural minor scale (harmonized with triads)
  • G♭m A♭dim B♭♭ C♭m D♭m E♭♭ F♭
• C♭ harmonic minor scale (harmonized with triads)
  • C♭m D♭dim E♭♭aug F♭m G♭ A♭♭ B♭dim
• G♭ harmonic minor scale (harmonized with triads)
  • G♭m A♭dim B♭♭aug C♭m D♭ E♭♭ G♭♭dim
• C♭ melodic minor scale (harmonized with triads)
  • C♭m D♭m E♭♭aug F♭ G♭ A♭dim B♭dim
• A melodic minor scale (harmonized with triads)
  • Am C♭m D♭♭aug D F♭ G♭dim A♭dim

C♭ Minor Chord PDF

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