C#maj7 guitar chord

C#maj7 (C sharp major seventh) is built from C#, E#, G# and B#, the degrees 1–3–5–7. On guitar, the main shape is x 4 6 5 6 4, the first diagram, marked with the star.

Play a plain C#. Nice — but ground-floor nice. Now listen to the player: C#maj7 is the same house with high ceilings.

Hear C#maj7 before you play

Why C#maj7 sounds this way

Here's the curious part: C, the new note, lives a half step from C# — that close, it should grind. And it does. But F and G# hold the room, so the grind turns into shimmer instead of a fight. Play the arpeggio again, no rush all the way to the last note and wait: you'll feel the spark without the fire. It's tension, domesticated — which is why it sounds expensive.

How to play C#maj7 on guitar

On the guitar, six strings give the chord room to breathe — some positions use them all, others ask you to mute the lowest ones. So go with the first position below; it's the main shape — that's why it carries the ⭐. Then do the before-and-after: C#, then C#maj7. The second is the first one after sunset. Run it a few times: this chord tends to feel odd on the first pass and addictive by the third.

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Higher up the neck this chord becomes comping carpet — the kind of sound that flatters any voice on top. Positions are right below.

C#maj7 notes and degrees

C#maj7 stacks the root C#, the major third E#, the perfect fifth G# and the major seventh B#.

Where C#maj7 shows up

Across keys, C#maj7 works as Imaj7 in C# major, IVmaj7 in G# major, IIImaj7 in A# minor — almost always the deluxe I or the elegant IV. Bossa nova made it a signature and the world copied it; today you hear this chord from jazz to indie pop without it asking permission.

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Where C#maj7 usually goes

Treating C#maj7 as the home chord (I) of its key, it tends to go toward the pre-dominant (D#m / F#) or the dominant (G# / B#°), and the dominant pulls back home. It's a tendency, not a law.

Going beyond C#maj7

For improvising, C# Ionian (C# D# E# F# G# A# B# · 1 2 3 4 5 6 7: the plain major scale, where everything starts); C# Lydian (C# D# E# F## G# A# B# · 1 2 3 #4 5 6 7: the major scale with a raised fourth — one extra step of daydream); C# Lydian ♯2 (C# D## E# F## G# A# B# · 1 #2 3 #4 5 6 7: a lydian with a raised second, harmonic-major color) wrap the whole chord. And the jazz shapes at the end are the same four notes spread across the neck, for the day you want to sound like an arranger.

Scales to improvise over C#maj7

To improvise over C#maj7 as home, the C# Ionian scale covers it whole: it contains every note of the chord. The best fit depends on the key, the surrounding chords and the tensions you want. And when the dominant (G#) pulls back, the leading tone C is the note that wants to resolve home.

Swaps that work:

• A#m7A#m7A#m7A#m7 — Relative minor (vi) — same tonic function
• Fm7Fm7Fm7Fm7 — Mediant (iii) — tonic function

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C#maj7 jazz voicings

Jazz Lab: Drop 2 voicings in any key, free; drop 3 and shell are part of Pro · try it in Chord and Fret

And when the song wants solid ground again, the way back is short: plain C#. Drop the seventh, close the window — the house is still there.

Updated October 20, 2026