C minor chordson the Irish bouzouki, ADAD tuning

Main chords: Cm (i), B♭ (♭VII), A♭ (♭VI)

The scale: C D E♭ F G A♭ B♭

Drones: No open course is in the Cm chord in this tuning; D fits the key. The courses are A D A D, low to high.

Capo 1: play it with B minor shapes, and every open course is in the key.

Common progressions

i – ♭VII – ♭VI – ♭VII: Cm – B♭ – A♭ – B♭
i – ♭VI – ♭VII – i: Cm – A♭ – B♭ – Cm
i – iv – ♭VII – i: Cm – Fm – B♭ – Cm (with the minor iv)

Basis: The Chiff & Fipple forum and common session practice: aeolian tunes lean on ♭VI and ♭VII (Em-D-C, Bm-G-A).

The seven chords in C minor

i Cm3 5 6 5
ii° Ddim5 3 5 6
♭III E♭6 5 6 8
iv Fm3 3 3 6
v Gm5 5 5 8
♭VI A♭3 6 6 6
♭VII B♭1 3 1 0

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Other modes on C

C major C mixolydian C dorian

Other minor keys

C minor in other tunings

Irish bouzouki, GDAD Irish bouzouki, GDAE Mandolin, GDAE

All Irish bouzouki ADAD chords · Printable chart (PDF) · The app