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The Cm7 chord

Think of the Cm7 as rounded and walkable. The chord is built from C - D# - G - A#, a textbook minor seventh. It does its strongest work in jazz standards, neo-soul and yacht rock, where it tends to sit between two more colourful chords. The Cm7 stays useful for years. The smooth, walkable minor that opens neo-soul tracks like a sigh. Voicings on both instruments, theory in plain language, progressions in multiple keys and a handful of real song references are all laid out below.

Hear the Cm7 in the chord builder →

Voicings for Cm7

Common ways to grip the Cm7 on guitar and piano. Guitar diagrams read low E to high E left-to-right; an × means muted, an open circle above the nut means an open string. Filled dots are fretted notes.

Guitar , full chord shapes

CAGED-derived voicings for Cm7 across the neck. Pick the shape closest to where your hand already sits.

Guitar: Em7 shape at fr.8

Notes: C - D# - G - A# (chord tones)

Guitar: Am7 shape at fr.3

Notes: C - D# - G - A# (chord tones)

Guitar: Dm7 shape at fr.10

Notes: C - D# - G - A# (chord tones)

Guitar: top-4 voicing

Notes: C - D# - G - A# (chord tones)

Guitar: high top-4 voicing

Notes: C - D# - G - A# (chord tones)

Guitar , triad shapes

Three-note voicings on three adjacent strings. Light textures for arpeggios, pop layering and chord-melody work.

Triad: top-string triad

Notes: 3-note voicing on adjacent strings

Triad: middle-string triad

Notes: 3-note voicing on adjacent strings

Triad: bass-side triad

Notes: 3-note voicing on adjacent strings

Piano voicings

Root position and inversions. The bass note matters: each inversion changes how the chord sits under a melody.

Piano: root position

Notes: C - D# - G - A#. Root C at the bottom. The classic stacked-thirds spelling of a minor seventh.

Piano: first inversion

Notes: D# - G - A# - C. D# at the bottom. Common in chord-melody, walking bass lines and gentler voicings.

Piano: second inversion

Notes: G - A# - C - D#. G at the bottom. A floating, suspended feel often used in hymns and ballads.

Piano: third inversion

Notes: A# - C - D# - G. A# at the bottom. The seventh in the bass , a smooth jazz favourite.

The theory behind Cm7

The Cm7 chord (C - D# - G - A#) is a minor seventh. Its intervals are root, minor third, perfect fifth, minor seventh. Functionally it lives at home in a closely related major key as the passing chord, but you'll also find it in a closely related major key as the passing chord. The chord tends to walk into a dominant seventh a fifth above, which is why it shows up in jazz standards and neo-soul.

Progressions that use Cm7

Short progressions that put the Cm7 to work. Each one is shown in a different key so you can pick the one that suits your singer.

i→iv→V key of A minor

Cm7 (as passing colour)

This chord appears as a borrowed or passing chord in many minor-key progressions.

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Songs that feature Cm7

Real records where this chord does structural work. No lyrics quoted, just the title and artist so you can pull up a copy and hear it in context.

Doo Wop (That Thing) by Lauryn Hill. Cm7 in the smooth verse harmony.
Sunday Morning by Maroon 5. Cm7 within the song's mellow palette.
Rosanna by Toto. Cm7 as a smooth jazz-pop colour.

Related chords

Chords a step away from the Cm7 in the songwriting circle, the natural neighbours when you want a substitution.

TriadC DomC7 Maj7Cmaj7 NeighbourG NeighbourGm NeighbourG7 NeighbourF NeighbourFm

Keys where Cm7 lives

The keys where this chord turns up diatonically. Open any key page for the full set of progressions that lean on it.

C major A minor

More songwriting tools

Got the chord but still wrestling with the lyric? Find the right rhyme in RhymeForge, or break a writer's block with the unexpected word-pair generator in CollisionLab. Need to map a full progression? The chord builder on the home page is where the Cm7 fits into context. All free, no signup.

About the chord builder

The Undercover Zest chord progression builder is a free interactive tool that maps every diatonic and borrowed chord in every key. Click a Roman numeral to hear it, drag chords into a progression, then audition voicings, inversions and tensions until the song clicks.

This page is a static reference for the Cm7. For interactive playback, voice-leading hints and substitution suggestions, open the chord builder above.