C#m6 — C# minor sixth chord
A minor triad with the sixth added. Contains the same notes as the half-diminished seventh chord a minor third below it.
- 1 = C#
- b3 = E
- 5 = G#
- 6 = A#
- Symbol
- C#m6
- Root
- C#
- Quality
- Minor sixth
- Family
- added
- Notes
- C# E G# A#
- Degree formula
1 b3 5 6- Semitones from the root
0 3 7 9- Distinct pitch classes
- 4
- Interval structure
- Stacked from the root: 3 semitones, 4 semitones, 2 semitones
- Notation
- Written m6. Used as a tonic minor chord and as a passing chord towards a dominant.
- Key
- C# · C# major / A# minor key signature
Formula
The chord tones in order from the root, with the interval each one forms above it.
| Degree | Note | Semitones | Interval from the root |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | C# | 0 | Perfect unison |
| b3 | E | 3 | Minor third |
| 5 | G# | 7 | Perfect fifth |
| 6 | A# | 9 | Major sixth |
Inversions
An inversion is the same set of notes with a different one in the bass. The last column gives the distance of each note above the bass note, in semitones.
| Inversion | Bass note | Degree in the bass | Notes above the bass | Semitones above the bass |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| root position | C# | 1 | C# – E – G# – A# | 0 3 7 9 |
| first inversion | E | b3 | E – G# – A# – C# | 0 4 6 9 |
| second inversion | G# | 5 | G# – A# – C# – E | 0 2 5 8 |
| third inversion | A# | 6 | A# – C# – E – G# | 0 3 6 10 |
Playable voicings
These shapes were found by searching the fretboard of a standard-tuned guitar (E A D G B E) rather than copied from a chord book. The search allows every string to sound or to be muted, rejects any shape with a muted string between two sounding strings, rejects any shape whose fretted notes span more than four frets (a five-fret window), requires every chord tone to be present, and then sorts what remains with root-position shapes first and the most compact, lowest shapes next. The shapes shown are the first six of that ordering; other orderings are possible at the same frets.
| # | Shape (low string first) | Notes | Degrees | Bass | Span (frets) | Sounding strings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9-7-8-9-9-9 | C# E A# E G# C# | 1 b3 6 b3 5 1 | C# | 2 | 6 |
| 2 | 9-11-11-9-11-9 | C# G# C# E A# C# | 1 5 1 b3 6 1 | C# | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 9-7-6-6-9-6 | C# E G# C# G# A# | 1 b3 5 1 5 6 | C# | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 9-7-8-6-9-6 | C# E A# C# G# A# | 1 b3 6 1 5 6 | C# | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | 9-7-6-9-9-6 | C# E G# E G# A# | 1 b3 5 b3 5 6 | C# | 3 | 6 |
| 6 | 9-7-8-6-9-9 | C# E A# C# G# C# | 1 b3 6 1 5 1 | C# | 3 | 6 |
Shape numbers run from the lowest string to the highest, so the left-hand number is the sixth string (low E) in standard tuning. Multiple shapes are listed because a chord can be voiced several ways, and because a lower position is not always the better sounding one.
Related chords and scales
- KeyEverything in C#
- ScaleC# melodic minor (ascending)
- ChordBbm7b5
Related
- KeyKey of C#
- ScaleC# melodic minor (ascending)
- ChordBbm7b5 — Half-diminished seventh
- ChordC#6 — Sixth
- ChordC#add9 — Added ninth
- ChordC#11 — Dominant eleventh
- DegreesC# — degree map
- Neck mapC# — note map