The C Chord

Here’s how to form the open C chord:

1. Place your 3rd finger on the 3rd fret of the A string
2. Place your 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the D string
3. Leave the G string open
4. Place your 1st finger on the 1st fret of the B string
5. Leave the high E string open

C

Strum all strings except the low E string:

The C Seventh Chord

The C seventh chord is often labeled as C7. In the open C chord we play the G string open, but with the C7 chord we’ll fret the 3rd fret of the G string with our 4th finger. This is the hardest chord we’ve learned so far!

As before, we’ll omit the low E string when we strum this chord:

C Major Seventh

The C major seventh is labeled as CM7 (capitol ‘M’ for major- a lower case ‘m’ would indicate minor). It’s easier than the regular C chord. All we have to do is remove our 1st finger from the first fret  and play the B string open.

1. 3rd finger 3rd fret of the A
2. 2nd finger 2nd fret of the D
3. G, B, and high E are open

And once again, we’ll omit the low E string:

Your Assignment

• In this lesson, you learned the C, C7, and CM7  chord- make sure you can form them and recall them by name
• Recap the previous assignment to make sure you remember the E chord group

Next Lesson: The D Chord Group