C7 Guitar Chord

Want to learn the C7 guitar chord? We’re going to you show you 5 of the best ways to play a C7 guitar chord.

In this free guitar lesson you will learn:

• 5 easy ways to play the C7 guitar chord.
• 5 powerful tips which will help you master guitar chords.
• 3 chord hacks which will make you sound amazing.
• How to master barre chords. (Bonus video & tips!)

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The two main C7 guitar chords are:

• C7 guitar chord. (Open position.)
• C7 guitar chord. (E7 barre shape.)

Let’s learn them.

Open C7 Chord

The easiest way to play a C7 guitar chord is in the open position. We refer to this as a ‘open chord’ because it uses open strings.

• Place your 3rd finger on the 3rd fret of the A string. (5th string.)
• Place your 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the D string. (4th string.)
• Place your 4th finger on the 3rd fret of the G string. (3rd string.)
• Place your 1st finger on the 1st fret of the B string. (2nd string.)
• Strum from the A string. (5th string.)

C7 Guitar Chord (E7 Barre Shape)

Barre chords are moveable shapes. All barre chords are based on a regular open chord shape. This C7 guitar chord is based on a open ‘E7 chord’.

Here’s a E7 guitar chord:

Here’s a C7 guitar chord. (E7 barre shape.)

• Barre your first finger over ALL of the strings on the 8th fret.
• Place your 3rd finger on the 10th fret of the A string. (5th string.)
• Place your 2nd finger on the 9th fret of the G string. (3rd string.)

Can you see how the E7 shape fits into this chord shape? The only difference is that you have to barre your first finger across the 8th fret.

Bonus Video!

Barre chords are tricky, there’s no hiding that. In this video Mike will show you 3 quick & easy tips which will help you master barre chords:

What is a C7 guitar chord?

A C7 guitar chord is a bluesy version of a regular C chord.

There is only one note which is different in a C7 chord. That note is Bb.

Here are all of the notes in a C chord:

• Root – C.
• 3rd – E.
• 5th – G.

To learn a standard C chord, go here: Easy Ways To Play The C Guitar Chord

Here are all of the notes in a C7 chord:

• Root – C.
• 3rd – E.
• 5th – G.
• b7 – Bb.

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When can I play a C7 guitar chord?

Here’s a cool guitar hack which will take your chord knowledge to the next level:

• Everytime you see a C chord. Play a C7 instead.

This gives your C chord a bluesy edge and will make you sound like clapton in no time!

To learn more about blues guitar, go here:Blues Guitar Lessons For Beginners – 4 Ways To Sound Awesome Quickly

Let’s learn some more voicings of the C7 guitar chord.

C7 Guitar Chord (A7 Shape)

This guitar chord is based on a regular open A7 chord.

• Barre your first finger from the 3rd fret of the A string (5th string) to the high E string. (1st string.)
• Place your 3rd finger on the 5th fret of the D string. (4th string.)
• Place your 4th finger on the 5th fret of the B string. (2nd string.)
• Strum from the A string. (5th string.)

If you find this voicing too difficult, try this one:

• Place your 2nd finger on the 3rd fret of the A string. (5th string.)
• Place your 1st finger on the 2nd fret of the D string. (4th string.)
• Place your 3rd finger on the 3rd fret of the G string. (3rd string.)

C7 Guitar Chord (3 finger version)

This C7 guitar chord is perfect if you want to add some low end grit to your rhythm playing.

• Place your 1st finger on the 8th fret of the low E string. (6th string.)
• Place your 2nd finger on the 8th fret of the D string. (4th string.)
• Place your 3rd finger on the 9th fret of the G string. (3rd string.)

This chord can be tricky as you have to skip a few strings with your pick. If you find this difficult, check out this lesson: How To Skip Strings While Strumming

C7 Guitar Chord (D7 Shape)

This C7 guitar chord is based on a D7 shape.

Here’s a D7 chord:

To learn this chord, go here: 3 Easy Ways To Play The D Chord On Guitar

Here’s a C7 (D7 Shape.)

Notice how the D7 shape is used within this chord shape. This works because this chord is part of the CAGED system.

Learn about the CAGED system here: CAGED Guitar System: How To Master Chords

To play this chord:

• Place your 1st finger on the 10th fret of the D string. (4th string.)
• Place your 3rd finger on the 12th fret of the G string. (3rd string.)
• Place your 2nd finger on the 11th fret of the B string. (2nd string.)
• Place your 4th finger on the 12th fret of the high E string. (1st string.)

C7 Guitar Chord (G7 Shape)

This chord is used frequently in funk and soul music. It has a tight, vibrant sound.

• Barre your first finger over the 5th fret. Make sure that you barre from the D string (4th string) to the G string! (3rd string.)
• Place your 2nd finger on the 6th fret of the high E string. (1st string.)

How do I practice guitar chords?

Here are 4 awesome ways to practice guitar chords. We guarantee that you will become a guitarist if you follow these 4 simple steps.

1) Everytime you learn a guitar chord, squeeze your fretting hand.

Squeezing your fretting engages your muscle memory and allows you to remember the guitar chord.

However, it’s important that you play the chord correctly BEFORE you squeeze your hand.

If you don’t, you will be teaching yourself to remember the chord incorrectly.

How do I know if the chord is right or not?

Here are 3 simple things you can do to check if the chord is right. Here they are:

1. Check that your fingers are in the right place. Make sure you use a chord box for reference!
2. Make sure that each note rings out clearly. There should be NO dead notes in a guitar chord.
3. Make sure that you aren’t feeling any pain. Your hands should be nice and relaxed when you play guitar chords.

2) Try and play a guitar chord without looking at your fingers

The best way to test if you know how to play a guitar chord is to try and play it without looking at your fingers.

Here are 7 simple steps that you can follow that will turn you into a chord master:

1. Pick any of the C7 chords to learn.
2. Make sure that the chord is correct.
3. Squeeze your fretting hand 5 times.
4. Take your fretting hand off of the neck.
5. Look into a corner of the room. (Make sure your fretboard is out of sight!)
6. Try and play the C7 guitar chord.
7. Check if it’s right!

If it is, fantastic. Try this with another C7 guitar chord. If it isn’t, do steps 1-7 again.

3) Practice moving between each C7 guitar chord

Start from the lowest C7 guitar chord, and ascend up to the highest one on the fret board.

You would practice each C7 guitar chord in this order:

• Open C7 guitar chord.
• C7 guitar chord. (A7 shape.)
• C7 guitar chord. (G7 shape.)
• C7 guitar chord. (3 finger version.)
• C7 guitar chord. (E7 shape.)
• C7 guitar chord. (D7 shape.)

Once you’ve mastered this. Do the same but in reverse. This time, you will start from the highest C7 guitar chord and descend until you get the lowest C7 guitar chord.

4) Learn Songs Which Use A C7 Guitar Chord

The quickest way to master a C7 guitar chord is to use it in a musical situation.

Here are some classic examples of songs which use a C7.

1) C Blues

The ‘7’ chord is featured heavily in blues music. If you want to master the C7 guitar chord, learn a 12 bar blues in the key of C.

Here’s a classic 12 bar in the key of C:

2) ‘Hey Jude’ by The Beatles

This was arguably one The Beatles biggest hits. The C7 guitar chord features heavily in this song.

Here’s the main chord progression for this song:

To learn this song in more detail, go here: ‘Hey Jude’ by The Beatles Chords

3) ‘Mustang Sally’ by The Commitments

This song is a blues classic. The C7 guitar chord is used frequently throughout this tune.

To learn this song go here:‘Mustang Sally’ by The Commitments