C minor chordson the Irish bouzouki, GDAE tuning

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

The scale: C D E♭ F G A♭ B♭

Drones: Open G rings in C minor; D fits the key too. The courses are G D A E, 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 Cm0 1 3 3
ii° Ddimx 3 5 4
♭III E♭0 1 1 3
iv Fmx 3 3 4
v Gm0 0 1 3
♭VI A♭1 1 3 x
♭VII B♭3 0 1 1

Hear them in the app ›

Other modes on C

C major C mixolydian C dorian

Other minor keys

C minor in other tunings

Irish bouzouki, GDAD Irish bouzouki, ADAD Mandolin, GDAE

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