Chords in C natural minor

Cm · D° · E♭ · Fm · Gm · A♭ · B♭

The course explains what this page shows in Lesson 19 · Harmonising the scale.

The chords in C natural minor

  1. iCmCm7
  2. ii°D°Dm7♭5
  3. IIIE♭E♭maj7
  4. ivFmFm7
  5. vGmGm7
  6. VIA♭A♭maj7
  7. VIIB♭B♭7

The chords of C natural minor are Cm, D°, E♭, Fm, Gm, A♭ and B♭. With a seventh added they become Cm7, Dm7♭5, E♭maj7, Fm7, Gm7, A♭maj7 and B♭7.

If you stack every other note of C natural minor, starting from each degree in turn, these are the chords you get. Nobody chose them: each one is built from the scale's own notes, arranged in thirds.

Every chord, where it lives

iCmii°D°IIIE♭ivFmvGmVIA♭VIIB♭
Open1♭315♭51♭3151
Fret 11♭315151513151♭35115135
Fret 33fr151♭353fr1♭31♭53fr15151♭33fr151♭351
Fret 44fr1♭5♭3♭54fr13154fr151351
Fret 55fr1♭51♭35fr131355fr15151♭35fr1513
Fret 66fr151356fr1♭3156fr1515136fr151351
Fret 77fr1513
Fret 88fr151♭3518fr151♭358fr1♭3158fr151513
Fret 99fr1315
Fret 1010fr15151♭310fr1♭51♭310fr151♭3510fr13135
Fret 1111fr15135111fr1513511fr1315

The grid places seven chords across eleven home frets on drop D guitar.

Read down a column to find one chord all over the neck. Each shape appears once, in the row for the fret it starts on. No single position puts every chord of this key within reach, so no rows are marked in the margin.

Shapes for each chord

Cm i
1♭3151♭318fr151♭3513fr151♭35
D° ii°
♭51♭3♭51♭3♭3♭51♭3♭5♭3
E♭ III
151151513151315
Fm iv
151♭351151♭35151♭35♭31♭351
Gm v
3fr151♭3513fr151♭353fr151♭35♭33fr1♭351
A♭ VI
4fr1513514fr151355fr15136fr151513
B♭ VII
1513515136fr151351135

These are the most playable shapes for each chord, starting from the lowest position. Every shape fits within the reach of one hand, so none of them needs a finger you do not have.

Progressions in C natural minor

Three chord
  1. iCm
  2. ivFm
  3. vGm
CmiFmivGmvCCDE♭FGGA♭B♭+2+2+2+1+2

One of the six lines between these chords is flat: that note belongs to both chords, so it stays where it is. No voice moves more than two semitones.

Every one of these chords comes from C natural minor.

Axis
  1. iCm
  2. vGm
  3. VIA♭
  4. ivFm
CmiGmvA♭VIFmivCB♭CCE♭DE♭FGGA♭A♭−2+2−1+1+2+1

Three of the nine lines between these chords are flat: those notes belong to both chords, so they stay where they are. No voice moves more than two semitones.

Every one of these chords comes from C natural minor.

Doo-wop
  1. iCm
  2. VIA♭
  3. ivFm
  4. vGm
CmiA♭VIFmivGmvCCCDE♭E♭FGGA♭A♭B♭+2+2+2+1+2

Four of the nine lines between these chords are flat: those notes belong to both chords, so they stay where they are. No voice moves more than two semitones.

Every one of these chords comes from C natural minor.

ii–V–I
  1. iiø7Dm7♭5
  2. v7Gm7
  3. i7Cm7
Dm7♭5iiø7Gm7v7Cm7i7CB♭B♭DDCFFE♭A♭GG−2−2−2−1

Four of the eight lines between these chords are flat: those notes belong to both chords, so they stay where they are. No voice moves more than two semitones.

These are the third and the seventh of each chord on their own. Together they decide whether a chord is major, minor or dominant, which is why they are called guide tones. If you play only these two notes, you can still hear the chords change. If you play only the root and the fifth, you cannot. Two of the four lines between these chords are flat: those notes belong to both chords, so they stay where they are. No voice moves more than two semitones.

Dm7♭5iiø7Gm7v7Cm7i7CB♭B♭FFE♭−2−2

Every one of these chords comes from C natural minor.

Rhythm changes
  1. i7Cm7
  2. VImaj7A♭maj7
  3. iiø7Dm7♭5
  4. v7Gm7
Cm7i7A♭maj7VImaj7Dm7♭5iiø7Gm7v7CCCB♭E♭E♭DDGGFFB♭A♭A♭G−2−1−2−2−1

Seven of the twelve lines between these chords are flat: those notes belong to both chords, so they stay where they are. No voice moves more than two semitones.

This diagram again follows only the guide tones, the third and seventh of each chord. Two of the six lines between these chords are flat: those notes belong to both chords, so they stay where they are. No voice moves more than three semitones.

Cm7i7A♭maj7VImaj7Dm7♭5iiø7Gm7v7E♭CCB♭B♭GFF−3−2−3−2

Every one of these chords comes from C natural minor.

Twelve-bar blues
  1. I7C7
  2. I7C7
  3. I7C7
  4. I7C7
  5. IV7F7
  6. IV7F7
  7. I7C7
  8. I7C7
  9. V7G7
  10. IV7F7
  11. I7C7
  12. V7G7
C7I7F7IV7C7I7G7V7F7IV7C7I7G7V7CCCDCCDEE♭EFE♭EFGFGGFGGB♭AB♭BAB♭B+2−2+2−1+1+1−2+1+1−2+2−2+2−1+1+1−2+1+1

Five of the 24 lines between these chords are flat: those notes belong to both chords, so they stay where they are. No voice moves more than two semitones. The progression lasts twelve bars, but a repeated chord is not a change, so the ladder shows only the six places where the harmony moves.

This diagram again follows only the guide tones, the third and seventh of each chord. None of the twelve lines between these chords is flat, so every voice moves at every change. No voice moves more than two semitones. The progression lasts twelve bars, but a repeated chord is not a change, so the ladder shows only the six places where the harmony moves.

C7I7F7IV7C7I7G7V7F7IV7C7I7G7V7EE♭EFE♭EFB♭AB♭BAB♭B−1+1+1−2+1+1−1+1+1−2+1+1

None of these chords belongs entirely to C natural minor: all three of them use notes the key does not contain (E, A and B). No single key contains all of them. Every one is a dominant seventh, and a dominant seventh pulls towards the chord whose root is a fifth below its own, one step anticlockwise on the circle (C7 → F, F7 → B♭, G7 → C). A chord drawn dashed, here and on the circle, goes outside the key.

There are six progressions in C natural minor, including Three chord (Cm Fm Gm) and Axis (Cm Gm A♭ Fm).

Each row is one progression. It is written first in roman numerals, which name each chord by the degree of the scale it is built on, and then as the chords those numerals stand for in this key. A dashed outline means the chord borrows a note that C natural minor does not contain. Under each progression, a diagram follows every note from one chord to the next. A flat line is a note that stays where it is, and a sloped line is labelled with the number of semitones the note moves.

C natural minor on the circle of fifths

—1♯2♯3♯4♯5♯6♯5♭4♭3♭2♭1♭CAmGEmD°ii°BmAF♯mEC♯mBG♯mF♯D♯mD♭B♭mA♭VIFmivE♭IIICmiB♭VIIGmvFDmC NaturalMinor3♭

Each step clockwise around the wheel moves up a perfect fifth and adds a sharp to the key signature, or takes a flat away. The small numbers around the rim show each key's signature. C natural minor has three flats in its key signature.

Why the chords land where they do

The two rings work in pairs. Each minor key on the inner ring is the relative minor of the major key just outside it: the two are built from the same seven notes and share a key signature. C major and A minor are one such pair.

This pairing is why a key's chords gather in one place. Its three major chords, E♭, A♭ and B♭ (the III, VI and VII), sit next to each other on the outer ring, each a fifth from its neighbour. Its three minor chords, Cm, Fm and Gm (the i, iv and v), are the relative minors of those same three, so they sit directly beneath them. Together, six of the seven chords form a block three wedges wide.

The remaining chord, D° (the ii°), is diminished. It sits four steps away from the block and is outlined on its own. Every major key, and every mode of the major scale, has exactly one diminished chord, and it is always the one that sits apart.

In this way the wheel works as a map of harmonic distance. Chords inside the block sound as though they belong to one key, and the further a chord sits from the block, the more it sounds like a departure. That is why progressions such as I–IV–V and ii–V–I move between neighbours rather than leaping across the wheel.

One step, on the neck

On the guitar, a perfect fifth is a shape you already know: the power chord, a root followed by the note two frets higher on the next string up, wherever the two strings are a fourth apart. Here it starts on C. The first step lands on the same fret, because the pair D–A is a fifth apart.

DADGBE10111213CGD

Now think of it as a chain. The G you are already fretting is the fifth of C, and it is also the root of the next chord clockwise. Play the same shape starting from G and you reach D. C → G → D is two steps around the wheel, and the same movement repeated up the neck.

The pair A–D is a fourth apart, so that step uses the usual two-fret shape. Higher up, the G–B pair breaks the pattern again. To work out any pair, count the semitones between the two strings and subtract that from seven. A fourth gives two frets, a fifth gives none, and a major third gives three.

C natural minor has three flats in its key signature. Six of its seven chords form one block on the circle of fifths.

Six of C natural minor's seven chords sit together in one block on the wheel. The seventh, D°, sits apart.