# C7, the C dominant 7 guitar chord

C7 is C major with a bite. The pinky adds one note and suddenly the music leans toward F. Blues and early rock and roll built whole songs on that pull. Adding the pinky tends to unsettle the other three fingers. Place the C shape first, then drop the pinky in without letting anything shift.

C7

## How to play it

- Index finger on the B string (2nd), 1st fret.
- Middle finger on the D string (4th), 2nd fret.
- Ring finger on the A string (5th), 3rd fret.
- Pinky on the G string (3rd), 3rd fret.
- Let the open high E string (1st) ring.
- Don't strum the low E string (6th). It stays silent in this shape.

## Changes to practice

Holding C7 still is the easy part. Songs need you to _arrive_ at it in rhythm, so in Strumhold you practice C7 as changes, alongside the rest of the Open 7ths set:

- [C7 ↔ E7](https://strumhold.com/chords/e-7/) C dominant 7 to E dominant 7 [Drill](https://strumhold.app/#/drill/pair/C.7.C~E.7.E)
- [C7 ↔ A7](https://strumhold.com/chords/a-7/) C dominant 7 to A dominant 7 [Drill](https://strumhold.app/#/drill/pair/A.7.A~C.7.C)
- [C7 ↔ D7](https://strumhold.com/chords/d-7/) C dominant 7 to D dominant 7 [Drill](https://strumhold.app/#/drill/pair/C.7.C~D.7.D)
- [C7 ↔ G7](https://strumhold.com/chords/g-7/) C dominant 7 to G dominant 7 [Drill](https://strumhold.app/#/drill/pair/C.7.C~G.7.G)

## Same root, different color

- [C](https://strumhold.com/chords/c-major/), C major
- [Cm](https://strumhold.com/chords/c-minor/), C minor
- [Cm7](https://strumhold.com/chords/c-minor-7/), C minor 7
- [Cmaj7](https://strumhold.com/chords/c-major-7/), C major 7

## Hear yourself get faster

Strumhold listens to your guitar through your device's mic, a headset, or a line-in from your audio interface. You drill a chord change to a metronome and it scores every single change. Free, no account, works offline.

[Drill C7 in the app](https://strumhold.app/#/drill/pair/C.7.C~E.7.E)