Chords in the Key of C Minor on Ukulele
The chords in C Minor are Cm, Ddim, Eb, Fm, Gm, Ab and Bb. It sits mid-table for a ukulele: Ab and Bb take the most work. A capo on fret 3 turns the whole thing into A Minor shapes if you want the easy road. Most songs in it also borrow a major G or G7 for their endings; both are below.
- Key signatureThree flats (Bb, Eb, Ab)
- Relative major E♭ Major
- Parallel major C Major
- Neighboring keys F Minor · G Minor
- On ukulele Moderate
The chords in C Minor
These seven are the whole family. Nearly every song in this key is built from them, in some order. Tap a diagram to hear it and flip through other shapes, or open its page for the full rundown.
Plus the chord that isn't strictly in the key
The natural minor gives you Gm as the v chord, but real songs in a minor key almost always reach for a major G or G7 instead. That raised third is what makes an ending feel like an ending. It is technically borrowed and universally used.
Struggling with these shapes? Put a capo on fret 3. A capo raises everything by one fret per position, so with it on fret 3 you can play the far easier shapes for A Minor and the song still comes out in C Minor. That swaps Cm, Ddim, Eb for Am, Bdim, C.
New to this? My capo guide covers where to clamp it and why it works. Rather move the song to a friendlier key for good? The transposing guide shows how.
Where C Minor lives on the wheel
Every key page shows this same circle. Watch the outlined block as you move between keys and the whole diagram explains itself.
Progressions that work in C Minor
Written out in this key so you can play them straight off the page. Each one is a pattern you have heard a thousand times, which is exactly why it works.
The minor answer to the four chords. Melancholy but never heavy.
Walks down step by step into a major V. Flamenco, folk and film scores.
The three-chord song in a minor key. Slow it down and it's a blues.
The strongest way home in a minor key. The major V does the work.
Borrows the Dorian major IV so the chorus opens up.
Sad verse, strong landing. Half the ballads you know are these four bars in some order.
Chords worth borrowing
Chords from outside C Minor that still sound at home in it. One of these dropped into a plain progression is usually what lifts it out of beginner-exercise territory.
- G V Major instead of minor, straight out of harmonic minor. Nothing pulls back to the tonic harder.
- G7 V7 The same idea with a 7th. Almost every minor-key song uses it.
- F IV The Dorian major IV. Brightens a minor key without leaving it.
- Bb7 V7/III Points at the relative major for a lift in the chorus.
- D7 V7/v Aims the music at the v chord so it lands instead of just arriving.
- Db bII The Neapolitan. Dark, dramatic and worth one well-placed bar.
- Cm7 i7 The tonic softened. Sits well under a vocal that needs room.
Other flavors of C
Same home note, different set of notes around it. Swapping the mode is the quickest way to change the mood of something without changing the key it sits in.
- C Ionian The plain major scale. Bright and settled.
- C Dorian Minor with a raised 6th. Minor, but hopeful.
- C Phrygian Minor with a flat 2nd. Spanish and a little tense.
- C Lydian Major with a raised 4th. Floaty and cinematic.
- C Mixolydian Major with a flat 7th. The sound of rock and folk.
- C Aeolian The plain natural minor. Sad in the usual way.
- C Locrian Unstable by design. Rare outside metal and jazz.
There are 452 songs in C Minor on UkuTabs, worked out by reading the chords in every chart. It's the same reading you see in the "How to play" box on the song itself, so the two always agree. Charts that don't clearly settle on one key are left out rather than guessed at.
Ukulele songs in C Minor
About C Minor
A key is the family of notes and chords a song is built around, named after the chord it keeps coming home to. In C Minor that home chord is Cm and the other six chords above are its relatives. Play them in almost any order and it'll sound like music, because they all come from the same seven notes.
C Minor shares its key signature and all seven of its chords with E♭ Major, its relative major. The only thing that changes is which chord feels like home. That's why a song can drift between the two without anything sounding wrong and it's also why working out the key from the chords alone isn't always possible. The last chord usually settles it.
Either side of it on the wheel sit F Minor and G Minor, which differ by a single note. Those are the easiest keys to move to if you want a key change and the first place to look for a chord to borrow.
New to all of this? The how keys work guide walks through the whole idea in plain words and ends with writing a song of your own in one.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers to the questions ukulele players ask most about keys like this one.
What chords are in C Minor?
The seven chords in C Minor are Cm, Ddim, Eb, Fm, Gm, Ab and Bb. The ones you'll use most are Cm, Ab and Bb, plus a major G borrowed from harmonic minor when you want a strong ending.
Is C Minor hard to play on ukulele?
It scores 49 on my playability scale, which puts it in the moderate band. The score comes from the actual shapes: fretted strings, real barres and anything past the third fret, weighted towards the chords you play most. If it feels awkward, capo 3 and play the shapes for A Minor instead.
What is the relative major of C Minor?
Eb Major. Same seven chords, same key signature, different home chord. The wheel above shows the pair as inner and outer ring on the same spoke.
What key signature does C Minor have?
Three flats (Bb, Eb, Ab). It shares that signature with Eb Major.
Next stop: look up any shape on the chord diagrams, work out a chord you already know the shape of with the chord namer, run the scale up the neck on scales or get in tune first with the tuner.