How to play Cm (C Minor) on Piano
Diagram, notes, and audio for the Cm chord on piano. Free in your browser.
About Cm on piano
C minor on piano is C, Eb, and G. Thumb on C, middle finger on Eb (the black key between D and E), pinky on G. The chord is identical in shape to C major except the middle note drops one semitone from E to Eb. That one-key shift is why every beginner method introduces C minor immediately after C major — to lock in the major-versus-minor distinction visually and aurally.
C minor is the i chord in the key of C minor (three flats: Bb, Eb, Ab), the vi chord in the key of Eb major, and the iii chord in Ab major. Famous piano works in C minor include Beethoven's Pathétique sonata, his Symphony No. 5, and Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 — all proof that the key is associated with serious, dramatic emotion across the classical canon.
In pop, C minor often shows up borrowed from C major as a 'parallel minor' chord — a moment of melancholy in an otherwise major-key song. Coldplay's Viva la Vida, Hozier's Take Me to Church, and Lewis Capaldi's Someone You Loved all use Cm or its key-of-Cm cousin chords. The relative major of Cm is Eb major; the same three flats anchor both keys.
Frequently asked questions
- Where is Eb on the piano?
- Eb is the black key immediately to the left of E — the rightmost black key in the group of two.
- What's the difference between C major and C minor?
- Only the third: C major has E natural, C minor has Eb. Every other note (C, G) is the same. Switch the middle finger from E to Eb to flip the chord's mood.
- What's the C minor scale?
- Natural minor: C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-Bb-C. Three flats — Eb, Ab, Bb.
Switch instruments
See Cm on a different instrument — same chord, new diagram.