C♯ Major guitar chord

The shape

Tap the diagram to hear C♯ Major strummed. C♯ Major is played as a barre chord around fret 4: lay a finger across the strings at that fret and build the shape on top. Movable, so the same grip works up and down the neck.

The notes in C♯ Major

A major chord is spelled from its root up: C♯ (R), E♯ (3), G♯ (5). Those are the only notes in C♯ Major — play them in any order, in any octave, and it's still C♯ Major.

What a major chord is

In plain terms, a major chord is the bright, resolved sound of the root, its major third and its perfect fifth stacked together — the first chord most people ever hear.

How it's used: It's the home base (I) of any major key, and it also lives as the IV and V. When a song feels settled and happy, a major chord is usually why.

The sound: Open, stable, cheerful — the default 'happy' chord. Where you'll hear it: Everywhere: pop, folk, rock, classical — the backbone of Western music.

Hear C♯ Major in a progression

As the I chord, it's home. Here it is in a I–IV–V–I — the most common move in music. Press play, and drag the Key control to move it anywhere.

Keys that use C♯ Major

C♯ Major appears naturally in these keys — click any to see all seven of its chords and how C♯ Major fits in:

Other C♯ chords

major chords on other roots

Chords and their spellings are shared facts of music theory. Every diagram and sound here is generated by ThunderFret's own engine — no tabs, lyrics or recordings are reproduced.