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C sharp minor chord

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

The short answer

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

On the keys

Keyboard with C sharp, E and G sharp markedEC♯G♯

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

On the staff

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

The C sharp 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 sharp minor chord has a root position and two inversions, and all three still sound as C sharp minor.

  1. Root positionC♯ E G♯right hand 1 3 5, left hand 5 3 1
  2. First inversionE G♯ C♯right hand 1 2 5, left hand 5 3 1
  3. Second inversionG♯ C♯ Eright hand 1 3 5, left hand 5 2 1

Keep going

C sharp minor scale

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

E major chord

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

C sharp major chord

C sharp major, written here as D flat major: the same keys on the piano, spelled differently. Same root, one note different.

Questions

How do you build a C sharp minor chord?

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

How many inversions does a C sharp minor chord have?

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

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

Play it in the app