PlayPiano

C minor chord

The three notes, the three ways to stack them and which fingers to use.

The short answer

The notes of the C minor chord are C, E flat and G.

On the keys

Keyboard with C, E flat and G markedCGE♭

Yellow is the root, the note the chord is named after.

On the staff

Treble and bass staves showing the C minor chord in root position: C, E flat and G

The C minor chord in root position. The treble clef is the right hand; the bass clef is the same chord an octave lower for the left.

Inversions

An inversion keeps the same three notes and changes which one is lowest. The C minor chord has a root position and two inversions, and all three still sound as C minor.

  1. Root positionC E♭ Gright hand 1 3 5, left hand 5 3 1
  2. First inversionE♭ G Cright hand 1 2 5, left hand 5 3 1
  3. Second inversionG C E♭right hand 1 3 5, left hand 5 2 1

Keep going

C minor scale

The scale this chord is built on: C, D, E flat, F, G, A flat and B flat.

E flat major chord

The relative major shares the same key signature as C minor.

C major chord

Same root, one note different: the third moves a semitone up.

Questions

How do you build a C minor chord?

Start on C, add the minor third (three semitones) above it, which is E flat, then the perfect fifth above the root (seven semitones), which is G.

How many inversions does a C minor chord have?

Two: first inversion puts E flat at the bottom and second inversion puts G at the bottom. With root position that makes three ways to play the same chord.

Practise C minor and the chords around it in PlayPiano, a piano practice app for iPhone and iPad.

Play it in the app