Cmaj7
- C1
- E3
- G5
- B7
Cmaj7 is C, E, G and B.
Cmaj7 has four notes, and the guitar has six strings to play them on. The rest of this page shows how a hand fits one to the other.
On the staff
On a treble staff, Cmaj7 is written C, E, G and B.
The staff shows the notes one after the other, then together. Written this way the chord is in close position, which means each note sits as near to the one below it as the spelling allows. A guitar almost never plays a chord in close position.
Cmaj7 under a hand
Strummed from the lowest string to the highest, this grip sounds C, G, B, E, G and C, which are the degrees 1 5 7 3 5 1 rather than the 1 3 5 7 of the written chord. The root is the lowest note, so this grip is in root position and sounds the way the written chord suggests. With C in the bass and six strings sounding four notes, the 1 and 5 appear more than once.
Strummed from the lowest string to the highest, this grip sounds E, C, E, G, B and E, which are the degrees 3 1 3 5 7 3 rather than the 1 3 5 7 of the written chord. The lowest note is the 3 rather than the root, so this grip is in first inversion, written Cmaj7/E. It has the same notes as the root-position grip, but with E in the bass it sounds different. With E in the bass and six strings sounding four notes, the 3 appears more than once.
Strummed from the lowest string to the highest, this grip sounds G, C, E, B and E, which are the degrees 5 1 3 7 3 rather than the 1 3 5 7 of the written chord. The lowest note is the 5 rather than the root, so this grip is in second inversion, written Cmaj7/G. It has the same notes as the root-position grip, but with G in the bass it sounds different. With G in the bass and five strings sounding four notes, the 3 appears more than once.
Strummed from the lowest string to the highest, this grip sounds B, E, G, C, E and B, which are the degrees 7 3 5 1 3 7 rather than the 1 3 5 7 of the written chord. The lowest note is the 7 rather than the root, so this grip is in third inversion, written Cmaj7/B. It has the same notes as the root-position grip, but with B in the bass it sounds different. With B in the bass and six strings sounding four notes, the 3 and 7 appear more than once.
Four shapes for Cmaj7 on guitar: Cmaj7, Cmaj7/E, Cmaj7/G and Cmaj7/B.
Every grip here is Cmaj7, but no two of them sound alike. A chord with the root as its lowest note is in root position, and a chord with any other note at the bottom is an inversion. On a keyboard you choose the inversion you want, but on a neck the shape your hand can reach usually decides it for you. When a grip sounds a note more than once, the fretting hand decides which note that is, not the harmony.
C, E, G and B on the whole neck
This diagram marks every C, E, G and B on the first fifteen frets of the guitar.
Every grip above is a handful of the notes on this diagram, and none of them uses a note that is not shown here.
Where Cmaj7 comes from
Cmaj7 is a chord of C major, E natural minor, G major and A natural minor.
A chord does not belong to a single key. Each major or natural minor key listed here contains every note of Cmaj7, which is why the same grip turns up in songs that otherwise have little in common.